High Court rules for Senator charged with bribing Haiti’s Martelly

Santo Domingo.- Supreme Court special instruction justice Esther Agelan on Wednesday ruled to uphold the decision by the Justice Ministry’s Anticorruption Dept. (DPCA) to decline indicting senator Felix Bautista, on charges that he gave money to Haiti president Michell Martelly.

In her ruling, Agelan rejected the allegations by the Movement Against Corruption (C-3), against the close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez.

In a 51-page decision, the Justice ruled the evidence based on the bank accounts cited in the TV program of investigative journalist Nuria Piera, didn’t prove direct or indirect transfers made to Martelly.

"The aforementioned analysis and based on the principle of legality, according to an investigation previously conducted by the DPCA, for the judge, the alleged facts don’t enter into the indictable offense set out in the law on foreign bribery, for which the closing of the file is ratified."

The plaintiffs’ chargers had derived from a series of reports made ??by Piera, but Agelan said her decision stems from the illegal origin of the evidence submitted.