The judicial authorities took control yesterday of several more Baninter Group assets, including TV Channel 13, known as Telecentro, on the orders of District Attorney M?ximo Aristy Caraballo. Other interposed companies include Medcom SA, Intercontinental de Medios SA, Ringo Records, RCC Records, Belleza Dominicana (operators of the Miss Universe franchise in the DR) and Deportes en la Cumbre. S?crates And?jar, the administrator put in charge of TV Channel 27 (or RNN), when it was taken over on 14 May, has also benn named administrator of Medcom and Telecentro. The authorities are again citing Article 9 of Law 72-02 on money laundering as the reason for the takeover. And?jar?s first move was to suspend 12 of the companies? vice-presidents ? whose combined monthly salaries were said to total RD$2 million ? while guaranteeing job security for remaining employees “as long as they were productive”. The dismissals were challenged by some high-ranking personnel who claimed the purported estimates of their salaries to be exaggerated, and that in reality the executives earned an average of RD$150,000 a month.