Codetel?s cable and Internet company Aster is the latest Baninter Group asset to be taken over by the authorities, under Article 9 of Law 72-02 of the money laundering legislation.
District Attorney M?ximo Aristy Caraballo named businessman Rafael Marino Pe?a Ventura the interim administrator of the confiscated company. Pe?a Ventura met with Aster employees yesterday and assured them their posts were safe, later telling Diario Libre that as far as customers were concerned, Aster?s service would continue as usual. Lawyers for jailed Baninter executives Ram?n B?ez Figueroa, Miguel B?ez Cocco and Vivian Lubrano de Castillo called the action a “further blow” and questioned the procedures in the case. The legal team claims that the information gathered during Luis Alvarez Renta?s interrogation last week has not been passed on to the judges. Aristy turned down a request to release Vivian Lubrano, who is still under guard in a private clinic where she is being treated for high blood pressure. Three more people were questioned by case judge Eduardo S?nchez Ort?z yesterday, namely: Mario D?valos, who coordinates the Baninter administration committee formed in the wake of the bank?s collapse; and Jaak Rannik and Simon Roig, members of Baninter?s board of directors, as reported in Listin Diario.