He said he had nothing to say and would not comply with the judge’s summons, but former President Hipolito Mejia sat for 13 hours waiting for his turn to testify in the libel suit his former supervisor of public works and today Duarte province senator Hernani Salazar has placed against lawyer Marino Vinicio (Vincho) Castillo. Salazar sued Castillo for comments made on his La Respuesta TV program (6, 13 March) and Cesar Medina’s talk show on 14 March where he says Castillo accused him of drug smuggling ties. Mejia sat for questioning from 10:15 pm on Saturday to 1:15 am on Sunday. Mejia spoke to the judge privately after the judge appealed to his condition as a former President and asked the public to leave.
On his La Respuesta show, Vincho Castillo reported that during the questioning President Mejia changed what he had stated regarding knowing Quirino Paulino on an interview with Huchi Lora and Juan Bolivar Diaz on TV. To the judge, he admitted he had breakfast at the Elias Pina home of Quirino Paulino, who is in jail on drug trafficking charges in New York. He also admitted having received a report on the illicit activities of Quirino Paulino from the minister of armed forces and the director of the investigations arm of the army. Citing security reasons, he said he could not reveal the conclusions of the report. The statements were confirmed to the Listin Diario by Hector Guzman, spokesman for Mejia.
When asked about Garcia Jimenez, who is in jail in the US for the same case, Mejia admitted that he was present at two campaign fund raisers Bladimir Garcia Jimenez was present, but stated he did not recall if Hernani Salzar was also present. Bladimir Garcia would receive multimillionaire contract for the construction of multiuse sports installations deemed plagued with construction irregularities.
Mejia’s spokesman Hector Guzman said that Garcia and Mejia had met during a trip of the President to the southwest to inaugurate works in San Juan and Elias Pina. There he was reportedly introduced to several businessmen, including Quirino Paulino. “There is nothing strange, nor extraordinary that a President attend a meal accepting an invitation of a group of businessmen of a region,” said Guzman.
During the hearing, Jose Lopez Reyes, a business associate of senator Salazar, said he had delivered a blank check to senator Salazar, who filled it out for more than two million pesos in the name of Importadora Fenix. Vincho Castillo says the check was used as an advance payment for the purchase of the helicopter that was later sold to former army captain Quirino Ernesto Paulino. The hearing that is being televised will resume on Monday, 23 May at 2 pm.