FBI probe stokes rift of senior Dominican government officials

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Dominguez affirmed Wednesday that he said what "I had to say" on the complaint by a prominent lawyer that the FBI illegally interrogated two domestic workers of a villa at La Romana owned by wealthy eye doctor Solomon Melgen, a political collaborator of senator Robert Menendez.
The row marks the first public dispute among senior officials of president Medina’s Administration, which took office just six months ago, and stokes a bitter rift between Dominguez and Government Ethics Commission president Marino V. (Vincho) Castillo.
Dominguez’s statement comes after the lawyer Vinicio Castillo Seman accused him of having lied to the country when stating that the interrogations by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations conducted here, "adhere to international agreements."
Castillo spoke in a press conference Tuesday accompanied by brothers the deputy Pelegrin Castillo, and the also attorney Juarez Castillo.
Marino V. (Vincho) Castillo, Vinicio Castillo’s father in February revealed that FBI agents interrogated Melgen’s maids at the La Romana police precinct, without the presence of a lawyer or judicial official and without a warrant.