El Caribe newspaper reports that Jose Miguel Ventura Asilis, the promoter of the Haina-Santiago train concession in the Dominican Republic, was sentenced to two years in jail for irregular payments made to government officers and members of the ruling political party in Puerto Rico, the Partido Nuevo Progresista, to obtain the contract from the Fondo del Seguro del Estado in Puerto Rico. Judge Juan Perez Gimenez said that Ventura Asilis was not a victim of extortion, but rather offered the payments voluntarily as part of his modus operandi. Despite the case being heard in Puerto Rico, and Ventura having been indicted, the Mejia administration proceeded to award his company the multimillion-dollar contract to build a train, and whereby the government guarantees the profitability of the venture. Asilis is president of the Consorcio para el Desarrollo Ferroviario Nacional, in addition to other companies. In April 2001, he signed the contract with the Dominican state for the train, at a cost of US$300 million. The contract exempts his company from paying taxes for 15 years and is a 50-year concession. El Caribe highlights the announcement made by Technical Secretary of the Presidency, Rafael Calderon, that the construction of the project would begin in June with the assistance of Indian railway technicians. Calderon at the time did not make it clear, however, whether Ventura had transferred the concession to the Indians.