Dominican Republic lawmaker ‘amassed’ US$555.5M fortune(Correct)

Santo Domingo.- The Justice Ministry’s Anticorruption Dept. (Pepca) on Thursday said bank transactions by the corporate network of former State Works Supervisory Engineers Office (OISOE) director Felix Bautista reveal that he and associates amassed a fortune of more RD$25.0 billion (US$555.5 million).

Pepca director Laura Guerrero said the corporate and financial network’s fortune have yet to be calculated, and invested in more than 500 assets including 175 vehicles of various makes and models.

She said none of the defendants can justify that and the considerable amount of real estate and other properties.

"We’ve said many times, regardless of the defense claims, that there’s no clear mathematical formula and ethics that justify the exorbitant enrichment of Felix Bautista and his allies in the period in which the main accused headed the OISOE," the official said.

She said all certifications submitted as evidence correspond to government agencies, for which "it would be extremely interesting for the accused to explain to us in a trial the surprising change of their respective assets, since 2004, when none of them were even earning large salaries, and what’s worse, not even reporting significant income individually or at the business level, and neither report having won a lottery ticket."

Guerrero added that just one of the four asphalt plants acquired by the network headed by the San Juan province senator cost more than US$33 million. “And if we talk about the media we will see the acquisition of 9 radio stations, 10 link frequencies and channels TV, acquired with more than 8 million dollars.”