Dominican government officials in land scam face prosecution in NY

Santo Domingo.- Dozens of buyers of apartment in the gated community of Pueblo Bavaro, Punta Cana (east) on Tuesday denounced the construction company, which took the deposits or total sum in dollars as far back as 10 years ago, but has yet to finish the dwellings.

José Miguel Melo, who spoke on behalf of those affected, said the few buyers who‘ve received their apartments, have no titles and the houses are still unfinished.

Quoted by elnacional.com.do, the investor said the housing project is in ruins and without basic services such as electricity, water and security.

He said the project was promoted for Dominicans in New York from 2003 to 2005 by the real estate developers Consorcio Empresarial Emproy-Divisa, among whose executives figure Danilo Díaz and Joaquín Geronimo, senior leaders and government officials of Dominican Republic’s ruling party, PLD.

He said many of those affected made a US$35,000 down payment while others the entire 60,000 and 65,000 dollars, but the developers have yet to respond. "It was all a scam, because the beach is 10 kilometers away, the streets encircling the housing project weren’t built and the few apartments handed over without papers have construction defects or aren’t fully finished."

He said the situation led the buyers to file charges in New York, for which the construction company faces prosecution in that city.

Melo, accompanied by Rafael Reyna, Carmen Vargas, Ismael Viven, Odrys Almánzar, Pedro Vargas, Andrea Lebrón, Ramón de la Cruz, Eduardo Pérez and other buyers, showed some of the purchase contracts received from Emproy-Divisa

He added that the sale was so irregular that most of the buyers received personal loans from the State-owned Reservas bank without the proper collateral.

Overgrown lots

DT was able to confirm that at least one of the lots for the planned development was totally overgrown with weeds and trash was visible from the street..