Bank data confirm senator’s kickbacks, defendant says

Santo Domingo.- Economist Jaime Aristy Escuder affirmed Thursday that the banks Wells Fargo, HSBC and Standard Chartered have provided accounts data he says confirm the "illegal" loan of US$130.0 million by the Sun Land Company to senator Felix Bautista, close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez.

He said the data provided by the banks confirm information in his book "The Dark Side of SundLand," which alleges kickbacks by the former head of the powerful State Works Engineers Supervisory Office (Oisoe).

In a press conference, Aristy said the bank information have been added to the evidence he will present in the trial on slander charges against him, the prominent writer Andrés L. Mateo, and Jose Alejandro Ayuso, in the Miami-Dade County State Court.