Dominican First Lady doesn’t have account in Danish bank, official says

SANTO DOMINGO.- Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority yesterday informed its Dominican Republic par that First Lady and ruling PLD party vice presidential candidate, Margarita Cedeño, isn’t a client of that nation’s Danske Bank.

The response from Denmark’s financial authorities is to a letter from Banks Superintendent Haivanjoe Ng sent February 20 to his Danish par, Ulrik Nodgaard, requesting a certification on whether Cedeño is a client of that bank.

The information is the latest development in the scandal unleashed early last week by journalist Marco Martinez’s assertion that the First Lady has as much as 75 million euros in that Danish bank.

In press conference in the Banks Superintendence, Ng said he sent the letter to Nodgaard, after receive February 17 a missive from the First Lady, asking him "to make the necessary efforts to determine" if she was a client of the referred banking institution.

In the letter, the official states that Cedeño "is being subjected to a false accusation by a sector of the press that she has an account and investments in its jurisdiction, specifically in the aforementioned bank."

“For us it’s extremely urgent to rely on your cooperation and this certification," Ng wrote, to which Denmark’s superintendence responded, through Banks Division special adviser Mikkel Holle, that Danish law is very strict on (banking) secret, which limits the possibility of Finanstilsynet to respond to his request,” Ng said.

It adds, according to the Superintendence’s translation of the document: "We, however have contacted the Danske Bank, and given the circumstances, we can inform you that Mrs. Cedeño isn’t a client of that bank."