The propane gas and Civil Aviation Board scandals are still making news, and Monsignor Agripino Nu?ez Collado, the country?s leading civil society arbitrator, is not happy as to how some of the procedures are being carried out. Yesterday, the Special Instruction Judge of the Supreme Court, Dulce Maria Rodriguez de Goris, questioned Angel Lockward, the former minister of industry and commerce, for seven hours. The principal figure in the case involving the Civil Aviation Board, Jesusita Hernandez, was also questioned yesterday by the judge of the Third Circuit, Doris Pujols. Pujols gave an order for Hernandez? imprisonment after an interrogation that lasted three hours at her hospital bed in the Cl?nica Alcantara Gonzalez. (It has become a common practice of those indicted to allege illness to avoid having to spend time in jail while their case is being heard.)
Nu?ez Collado met with President Hip?lito Mej?a yesterday afternoon at the PUCMM university campus in Santo Domingo, where he is rector. According to statements that appear in both Hoy and the Listin Diario newspapers, Nu?ez Collado explained his criticism of the arrests and the behavior of the district attorneys in charge of them. The monsignor said that he told the President he felt hurt when he saw ?the festive atmosphere? surrounding the announcements of the arrests, and felt that if ?the majesty that justice is supposed to present? was in any way absent, people would lose faith in the system.