Acting President Milagros Ortiz Bosch suspended director of Bienes Nacionales, Victor Tio Fernandez during investigation of the sale of a 3,000 square meter government property appraised at RD$2,000 but sold for RD$5 the meter. Tio was suspended for 30 days. In new developments on the case reported by the press, an advisor of Bienes Nacionales, Santiago Moquete, called Tio "a cancer within the government of Hipolito Mejia." He told the press that the director of Bienes Nacionales is surrounded by a band of mafiosi and property invaders. He accused Tio of authorizing the irregular sale. Tio has denied the charges stating that his signature was falsified. The Chief of the Police confirmed that it was true that a letter from Tio had been received at the Police warning that the mafia was selling state property in an irregular manner. Furthermore, El Siglo newspaper reports that the sale document prepared by Bienes Nacionales legal advisor Jorge Nemesio Matos Vasquez was not valid because the latter had been suspended by the Disciplinary Court of the Dominican Bar for violating articles of the Code of Ethics. This was in regards to falsifying a divorce plea on behalf of his wife. Meanwhile, the Banco de Reservas has denied that the property that stirred up the controversy was under their jurisdiction as Tio claimed.
