Senator in graft probe ‘owns’ RD$3.1B in properties

Santo Domingo.- Many of the properties allegedly owned by senator Félix Bautista’s corporate network over which prosecutors have placed liens are worth around RD$3.1 billion, while others are pending assessment.

Of a total of 158 properties figure more than 100 apartments, three villas, three asphalt factories, concrete plants and dozens of lots, located in the National District and other provinces.

The information was revealed by court papers submitted Tuesday by the National District Office of the Prosecutor, in the hearing where Bautista’s lawyers requested the lifting of the liens.

Among the properties figure asphalt plants, luxury condos, lots, villas among others, some of them allegedly built on government lands.

Bautista, senator for San Juan de la Maguana province and close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez, is the subject of an investigation for alleged graft and embezzlement while head of the powerful State Works Supervisory Engineers Office (OISOE), a sort parallel Public Works Ministry, during Fernandez’s terms in office (2004-2012).