Marcelo Hafke, general manager of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht met with attorney general Jean-Alain Rodríguez and Laura Guerrero Pelletier of the Anti-Administrative Corruption Agency (Pepca) on Tuesday, 10 January 2017. The meeting lasted seven hours, as reported in Diario Libre.
Hafke was accompanied by his lawyer Robert Valdez. After the meeting, the attorney general office told the press that the next person they were planning to question was Angel Rondón, the commercial representative of Odebrecht in the Dominican Republic. As reported, Rodríguez expects Rondón to identify the people and the sums that were distributed with the funds.
El Día describes Rondón as an efficient lobbyist who has been linked to the mythical figure of the Man with the Briefcase in the Renove (Sam Goodson) transport corruption case in which several government officials and transport union leaders were sentenced. His name has also been mentioned in connection with the Baninter case when together with Miguel Pimentel Kareh (who was the first director of the OISOE department under the Medina administration), the Asociación Popular de Ahorros y Préstamos merged with Baninter. In the ruling on that case, together with Ricardo Pellerano Paradas they committed to reimburse RD$75.4 million and US$213,000 to the Central Bank and Baninter for irregularities in the deal.
The Attorney General office has also banned Odebrecht from involvement in any operation or tender until investigations are concluded.
A New York Court recently revealed that US$92 million in bribes had been distributed to secure US$163 million in construction contracts.
Odebrecht has carried out works in the Dominican Republic over three different administrations – Hipólito Mejía, Leonel Fernández and Danilo Medina.
