The Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald carry the story today on the lawsuit being presented by the Dominican government in Miami that claims that US$35 million in bank funds were hidden in loans from three Florida banks to the Dominican companies Bankinvest and Inter Duty Free. The lawsuit accuses prominent national businessman Luis Alvarez Renta of a loan scam linked to the collapse of Baninter, which in turn plunged the DR into an economic crisis. According to the Miami Herald, the lawsuit against Alvarez Renta ?opens a US front in the stalled battle to bring to justice a handful of powerful and connected Dominicans involved in last year?s US$2.2 billion collapse of Baninter.? The suit alleges that Alvarez and the former head of Baninter, Ramon Baez Figueroa, ?stole funds deposited at Baninter to enrich themselves, their relatives and the companies they controlled.? As reported in the Miami Herald, Alvarez?s lawyers deny any wrongdoing on behalf of their client. ?They?re going to find that Mr. Baez was the one who was principally involved in the majority of the transactions they describe,? said his lawyer A. Barranco.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8308320.htm
The story in The Wall Street Journal Americas, reprinted in the Listin Diario, says the lawsuit is a first step in an effort to recover millions stashed abroad. In the WSJ story, Alvarez Renta?s lawyer, A. Barranco, is cited as saying that the legal case should be heard in the Dominican Republic, not the US.