Under a judge’s questioning, Joaquin Ruiz, the owner of Importadora Fenix, the company that sold the Colibri helicopter that eventually ended up in the hands of accused drug trafficker Quirino Paulino Castillo, told the court that he received the final payment of US$600,000 on 2 December 2003 from colonel Pedro Julio (“Pepe”) Goico, who asked that the receipt be made out to Jose Ramon Lopez (“Nino”), Hernani Salazar’s personal assistant. Ruiz said yesterday in court that previous payments for RD$7,680,000 had been received. He said he received the US$600,000 payment from Pepe Goico at the latter’s office of the First Brigade of the Army. He explained that once the final payment was made in December 2003, shortly after the helicopter was sold to former army captain Quirino Paulino Castillo, who at present is in jail in the US, awaiting trial for drug smuggling.
Prominent lawyer Marino Vinicio (Vincho) Castillo, currently on trial after having been sued Hernani Salazar (a former Presidential Supervisor of Public Works in the Mejia administration and today senator for Duarte province) for defamation of character, had called Ruiz as a defense witness. The defense hopes to prove with the testimony of several witnesses that there is substance to statements made on TV by Vincho Castillo regarding Salazar’s ties to drug trafficking.
According to Ruiz, he never had any dealings with Salazar himself. He said that Quirino Paulino Castillo used the Colibri for a period of nine months, up to August of 2004 after which he turned it in for a larger model. Both helicopters were housed in hangars at the San Isidro Air Force Base, next to the presidential chopper. Ruiz explained that the helicopter in question (EC120) was purchased by Pepe Goico who told him that the aircraft would be used as part of the presidential advance team and that it would be piloted by Air Force Major Nestor Ivan Acosta. Acosta piloted the aircraft when it was used by Goico Guerrero and later on when Quirino Paulino Castillo owned it, continuing in his employ until August 2004. He was also the pilot of Quirino’s newer and larger machine, a EC130.
Ruiz said during the trial, that Quirino Paulino Castillo told him he would be purchasing the newer helicopter because his family did not fit in the EC120 model.
Ruiz explained that for the sale of the second helicopter he received a payment of US$1 million in cash and the trade in of the first helicopter. According to Ruiz, the helicopter was the only civilian helicopter kept at the San Isidro Air Base, where the presidential helicopter is kept.
Lawyer Castillo, the accused, asked the judge to renew the summons for Pepe Goico, currently resident in Spain, via the Consular Department, as required and permitted under the new Penal Code. Pepe Goico originally purchased the first helicopter using the Visa credit card issued by Baninter in his name for presidential expenditures.