Ruling party icon hints at former president, drug-trafficker link

Santo Domingo.- DominicanRepublic ruling PLD party cofounder and icon Franklin Almeyda on Sunday hintedthat unnamed National Palace officials were behind the recent affirmations fromnotorious drug trafficker Quirino Paulino that he had loaned money to former presidentLeonel Fernandez.

He said presidentDanilo Medina should, instead, invite Fernandez to join the PLD campaign.

"I don’t know whatI would´ve done if they had brought Quirino as they did, by officials there fromthe palace, and people who are not of the PLD, who come from civil society orthe business sector, they can be good businessmen, but have no clue of what´s apolitical activity," Almeyda said in reference to Fernandez´s “nobility.”

Government officials allegedlybrought ex drug trafficking convict Quirino Paulino from the US to the country severalmonths ago, where in an interview with Salvador Holguin affirmed having lentFernandez over $300 million for the 2004 campaign.

Fernandez has yet torebuff the allegations.