At the preliminary hearing at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) against Senator Felix Bautista and another six accused, the Public Prosecution service is trying to prove charges of money laundering, corruption and illegal gains.
In the hearing yesterday, Tuesday 3 February 2015, assistant prosecutor Carlos Castillo said that Bautista had also committed the crimes of forging signatures and tax evasion. He showed certificates issued by the Tax Agency (DGII) that showed that Bautista had neither paid taxes on the large fortune he is supposed to have amassed nor on his salary when he headed the Office of Supervising Engineers of State Works (OISOE).
As well as Senator Bautista, the others accused are Soraida Antonia Abreu Martinez, Jose Elias Hernandez Garcia, Bolivar Antonio Ventura Rodriguez, Carlos Manuel Ozoria Martinez, Gricel Aracelis Soler Pimentel and Bienvenido Breton Medina.
Prosecutors also claimed that companies linked to Bautista had made several large deposits in several bank accounts on the same day. One of the cases involves Gricel Araceli Soler Pimentel, a shareholder in several of the 46 companies that are pinpointed for having been used to divert money from the state during the time Bautista headed the OISOE, as reported in Diario Libre. Soler Pimentel was shown to have more than 50 deposit certificates in pesos and dollars acquired during the 2004-2012 period. On one day, 23 December 2008, she opened three certificates for RD$500,000 each. Pelagio Alcantara, one of the prosecutors in the case, said that this was a classic example of money laundering.
They also mentioned the case of Jose Elias Hernandez of the company Disenos de Obras Civiles y Electronicas LTD (DOCE), which opened three banking certificates of deposit of US$500,000 each on 31 January 2011. They were cancelled on 18 February, 4 March and 17 March of the same year.
The court says that one of the associate companies, Consorcio Hemisferio Imperial, did not have an office and moved RD$3.4 billion despite never reporting to the tax agency.
The cases are outlined in the 402-page file presented by prosecutors. The lawyers had read almost 300 pages in the preliminary hearing as of yesterday.
Ministerio Público: Félix Bautista nunca pagó impuestos por grandes capitales
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/02/04/i997631_ministerio-pblico-dice-que-los-socios-flix-bautista-depositaban-bancos-varios-montos-mismo.html
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/02/04/i997631_ministerio-pblico-dice-que-los-socios-flix-bautista-depositaban-bancos-varios-montos-mismo.html