Beleaguered senator asks for probe into his assets

Santo Domingo.- At their colleague Felix Bautista’s request, the Senate on Wednesday named a special commission to investigate allegations his companies funded the campaign of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.

The senator from San Juan de la Maguana also requested that the probe includes a thorough audit into the source of all his assets and properties.

"If the result of this investigative process doesn’t reflect transparency of my assets, I’d be willing to ask this chamber to strip me of my parliamentary immunity," the lawmaker said.

Senators Prim Pujals, Felix Vasquez, Rafael Calderon, Jose Rafael Vargas, Dionis Sanchez Amarilis Santana and Sonia Mateo form the Commission.

Reading a document in the Senate floor yesterday to reject the allegations, Bautista admitted having met Toledo and that a group of Dominican business, leaders which he didn’t identify, was asked to contribute to the campaign, through a few checks.