Legal motions presented by defense lawyers continue to delay the first hearings of evidence in the corruption and asset laundering presented by the Attorney General Office against senator Felix Bautista (PLD-San Juan de la Maguana) and seven of his close associates. The senator is the organizational secretary of the ruling PLD party.
The other defendants in the case are Bolivar Antonio Ventura Rodriguez, Carlos Manuel Ozoria, Zorayda Antonia Abreu Martinez, Jose Elias Hernandez Garcia, Grisel Aracelys Soler Pimentel and Bienvenido Apolinar Breton Medina. They are accused of complicity in the case of document forgery, embezzlement and asset laundering worth billions against Felix Bautista when he was director of the Public Works Supervisory Office (OISOE) during the Leonel Fernandez administration. This is the most prominent rags-to-riches case moving through the judicial system today.
Supreme Court Judge Alejandro Moscoso Segarra rejected the legal motions yesterday, Thursday 22 January 2015, and ordered the hearings to continue on 29 January when other motions will be decided upon collectively.
Speculation is rife over judge Alejandro Moscoso Segarra’s impartiality, given that he is a former prosecutor who was appointed to the post by former President Leonel Fernandez and a former member of the PLD ruling party’s Central Committee.
The case is being heard in the Supreme Court of Justice because Bautista is a senator and has privileged status.
Bautista’s lawyers have objected to evidence of the corruption case against him being heard in court, alleging that the documents were obtained prior to notifying the accused of their existence. The lawyers are also challenging the case being heard at all, on the grounds that there is a previous judicial order for it to be permanently archived.
The defense is also upholding Bautista’s parliamentary immunity. Nevertheless, in October 2014, Bautista said he would waive his parliamentary immunity when defending his innocence of the accusations. At the time he asked the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, judge Mariano German to appoint a judge to hear the accusations made in the case file prepared by the Attorney General Office. However, yesterday, Thursday 22 January 2015, he said that for his parliamentary immunity to be waived, the judge hearing the case needs to submit a request to the Senate, as established in Art. 87 of the Constitution that gives the Senate two months to decide on the removal of immunity by which the case could be heard by ordinary justice and not exclusively in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Details of alleged Bautista corruption were also heard in a Miami-Dade County Florida State court last year after Bautista sued authors Jaime Aristy and Jose Alejandro Ayuso (The Dark Side of Sunland) for defamation. Jaime Aristy, who was under pressure due to the high cost of the trial, accepted a deal with Bautista to end the lawsuit in Florida.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/01/23/i980741_juez-rechaza-incidentes-caso-flix-bautista.html
Félix Bautista se despoja de inmunidad parlamentaria; dice Domínguez Brito debe renunciar
http://acento.com.do/2015/opinion/8214508-caso-felix-bautista-incomprension-social-de-sus-incidentes/