Beleaguered Senator, Sun Land charge prominent professionals with slander

MIAMI.- Felix Bautista and the company Sun Land Group (SLG) filed a lawsuit for slander against economist Jaime Aristy Escuder, attorney Jose A. Ayuso and author Andrés L. Mateo at Florida South District Federal Court, based o the latter’s book ‘El lado oscuro de Sun Land’ (The dark side of Sun Land) released in 2012, and presented by Aristy in Miami in May 9 that year.

Bautista, of the ruling PLD party and Sun Land are represented by the law firm Gray Robinson, whose attorney Carlos A. Souffront said the suit is based on accusations by Ayuso and Mateo, that the then head of the government works supervisory office (OISOE) and Sun Land "perpetrated a fraud in the millions of dollars to the detriment of the Dominican Government.”

In a statement quoted by Dominican media, Gray Robinson said the allegations against their clients are intended to promote political interests, for which their clients sued for damages through the U.S. federal courts in Florida.

The law firm, through Souffront, had already won a case for US$50 million for Sun Land against the Dominican Government for breach of contract, in a ruling by local Federal judge Cecilia Altonaga.