Dominican opposition leader denies ‘irregular’ US$15.0M loan

Santo Domingo.- The President of Dominican Republic’s opposition party (PRD) denied Wednesday that the US$15.0 million loan with the State-owned Reservas bank was irregular. Miguel Vargas said his company, General de Galerias Comerciales Mundo Mall, S.A., has paid US$1.7 million interest to date, at a rate of 9%.

"It’s a vicious, malicious and divisive statement made Monday by the sector which in recent years has been characterized by maintaining a disrespectful and disruptive behavior on the progress of our party’s institutionalism," he said.

A group of PRD leaders, led by Milagros Ortiz Bosch, called the debt a "political loan" and Vargas’ betrayal of the PRD during the 2012 campaign for the presidency.

But Vargas, during a press conference at the hotel Embajador, calls the allegation as strictly politically motivated. He said the process for the loan lasted seven months, from July 2011 to February 2012.

He also said that his company is worth more than US$600 million and assets of more than RD$4.0 billion.

Collateral

Vargas added that as collateral his company put up real estate owned by the company, worth more than US$44 million, with their titles in order.