Indictment: Mayor of major Dominican city embezzled RD$400.0M

Santo Domingo.- The Office of the Prosecutor on Monday indicted San Francisco de Macoris mayor and three city officials –all four members Dominican Republic’s ruling PLD party- on charges of embezzling more than RD$400.0 million

The Anticorruption Dept. filed charges of embezzlement, conspiracy, document forgery, bribery and breach of trust against mayor Félix Manuel Rodríguez, payroll director Kherson Neris Lizardo, treasurer Fior D’liza Genao and Ana Hilda B. Aquino, as accomplice.

Anticorruption special prosecutor Laura Guerrero Pelletier said the defendants violated several articles the Criminal Code. "The investigation and an audit conducted jointly with the Accounts Chamber from 2007 to 2011 found that San Francisco city officials incurred in malicious actions in managing taxpayer funds."

In a statement, Guerrero said the audit determined that the Mayor assigned works without a call for tenders, “in an open violation of State purchasing of goods and services Law 340-06.”

She added that Rodriguez, mayor of the country’s third biggest city, also supplied fuel to trucks rented to private individuals, among other crimes, together with codefendants.