US$384M allegedly embezzled in the military will be probed, Prosecutor

Santo Domingo.- The head of the Justice Ministry’s Anticorruption Dept. (DPCA) on Friday revealed that an investigation has been launched into an alleged embezzlement of RD$15.0 billion (US$384 million) in the Armed Forces, but didn’t specify in which branch of the military an audit detected the irregularity.

Hotoniel Bonilla also revealed that the case against former Agrarian Institute director Hector Rodriguez Pimentel is based on an Accounts Chamber audit which allegedly found an embezzlement of RD $2.0 billion and a second audit by the controller General with alleged irregularities of US$56 million.

The official said yet another audit by the Engineers and Architects Guild (Codia) found other irregularities in two public works, but didn’t specify an amount.

Bonilla, who has dubbed Rodriguez Pimentel a “pathologically corrupt official,” added that he doesn’t feel satisfied with the few convictions his department has obtained in the courts. “That would be possible if we had a system of justice which responded to society but unfortunately that isn’t so.”