International businessman Luis Alvarez Renta, who has accompanied President Hip?lito Mej?a on many of his trips abroad, was appointed ambassador to France on 2 April. Yesterday, however, following the Governor of the Central Bank?s announcement that Alvarez Renta was involved in the Baninter debacle, President Hip?lito Mej?a dismissed him from that post by way of Decree 493-03.
Businessman Luis Alvarez Renta has taken out full-page advertisements in the press today, in which he declares he is innocent of all the charges made by the Central Bank. He claims to have ended his dealings with Baninter almost two years ago.
Alvarez Renta is the only Dominican businessperson, other than Baninter majority shareholder, Ram?n B?ez Figueroa, who is mentioned by name in the Central Bank report. The report says that overdrafts and loans totaling RD$3.83 billion were erased at the start of this year in favor of the company Bankinvest, S.A., presided and managed by Luis Alvarez Renta.
Alvarez Renta alleges that he sold all his shares in Bankinvest, S.A. to an unnamed company represented by Holland & Knight, a prestigious Florida law firm, on 13 August 2001 — almost two years ago. He said that he delivered documents that evidence the sale to Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkum on 2 May.