President Hipolito Mejia yesterday denied that he had quarrelled with collapsed Baninter bank president Ramon Baez Figueroa, as is alleged in a brief presented by the attorneys of Baninter and followed up in Hoy newspaper today. According to the brief, at the beginning of 2002 Mejia threatened to close Baninter and have Baez Figueroa arrested, to which Baez Figueroa purportedly replied that he would knock Mejia from power. “This incident never happened. It is a lie,” stated Mejia.
The brief also accuses three leaders of the PPH faction of the ruling PRD, former Agriculture Minister Eligio Jaquez, National Treasurer Pastora Mendez de Fondeur and PRD party pollster Ana Maria Acevedo, of swindle, extortion and prevarication in an effort to destroy Baninter. It further outlines details of a receipt by the three of a RD$15-million loan without identification. According to a related story in the Listin, Mejia when interviewed on the campaign trail in Pedernales said, “We are going to pay the money back, we have already paid part of it.” Furthermore, Mejia informed: “There are a lot of big fish that also received big sums and are going to have to pay up.”
Mejia said that he would stay out of the Baninter judicial process and let justice take its course.