Beleaguered senator defies Justice Ministry subpoena

Santo Domingo.- Senator Félix Bautista, a close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez, on Sunday affirmed he won’t be questioned by the Justice Ministry in the case of alleged embezzlement of tax payers money, claiming political persecution.

"I won’t be questioned, because the origin of all this is a political persecution," the lawmaker said, and afirmed he was surprise with the subpoena issued by Justice minister Francisco Domínguez to question the lawmaker.

Bautista’s lawyer Juan Antonio Delgado said he refuses to be interrogated because in his view, it’s about the same facts of an investigation which prompted Anticorruption Dept. prosecutor Hotoniel Bonilla to drop the charges in August 2012.

Among the allegations against Bautista figure embezzlement in the scandal of the Sunland Corporation, and of bribing Haiti government officials on infrastructure contracts.