Former controller of the Republic Haivanjoe Ng Cortiñas presented official documents that show that the Fernández administration paid US$3,874,0000 for the eight Chilean T35 B Pillan airplanes and not US$22 million as Puerto Plata Senator Ginette Bournigal had denounced making front page headlines. The Puerto Plata senator had denounced that the Fernández administration had paid US$2.7 million for each airplane. The news went international, when Empresa Nacional de Aeronautica de Chile denied they had been paid a surcharge on the cost of the aircraft, and the story was picked up by an international newswire service. The former Controller also presented documents clarifying the differences of price paid by Guatemala and the DR for the airplanes, also denounced by Senator Bournigal. Ng Cortiñas said that Guatemala purchased used aircraft, and the DR purchased new airplanes. Prior to the Controller’s opinion, Minister of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General José Miguel Soto Jiménez had said there had been no irregularity in the purchase. Ng Cortiñas got back at the senator urging her to be more careful. "If she continues misinforming the public, I believe she will never again be elected senator" Senator Bournigal clarified that the confusion came from a news story published in February of this year in El Siglo newspaper, where the reporter had erroneously stated a US$22 million purchase price.
