U.S. court ruling stokes embezzlement case linked to former Dominican President

Miami.- The government of the Dominican Republic must pay US$50.1 million to two Miami-based companies that claimed it breached their contract and failed to pay for work on an irrigation project in the Caribbean nation and other constructions in the capital, Law 360.com reports.

It said Florida U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga on Monday awarded more than $21.5 million to Architectural Ingenieria Siglo XXI LLC and more than US$28.6 million to Sun Land & RGITC LLC, which claimed they had been dutifully performing their work for a Dominican agency when it abruptly terminated.

In Dominican Republic, the ruling is expected to stoke the “Sunland case” on alleged US$130 million embezzlement in the construction of buildings on the Santo Domingo State University UASD campus, in which charges were filed against senator Felix Bautista, a close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez.