Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado has resigned from the board of Aceros Estrella, an Estrella Group company, after agreeing to chair a commission appointed by President Danilo Medina to investigate the tender won by a consortium including Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht for the installation of the Punta Catalina thermoelectric power plant. The investigation follows a US court ruling that revealed Odebrecht had paid US$92 million in bribes to secure US$163 million in contract work in the Dominican Republic.
In a letter dated 11 January 2017 sent to Estrella Group president Manuel Estrella, Núñez Collado said that since Ingeniería Estrella is the local counterpart of the consortium that is building the coal-fired plants, he considers it appropriate to submit his letter of resignation from the board membership.
The media had questioned the conflict of interest of a board member of an Odebrecht associated company sitting on the commission that was set up investigate the disclosure that US$92 million had been paid to secure US$163 million in contract work in the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, in a series of short messages on Twitter the former president of the PRD political party, Ramón Alburquerque strongly criticized the monsignor. Alburquerque accused Núñez Collado of holding shares in several leading business groups, including 14% in Corporación Portuaria del Atlántico that handles the Port of Manzanillo in Montecristi, and 14% in shares of the Aeropuerto del Cibao in Santiago. The information about Monsignor Agripino Núñez’s wealth is from the book on Baninter written by journalist Esteban Rosario.
He was critical of the resignation of his membership of the Grupo Estrella board while remaining as chair of the presidential commission that was set up to review the tender for the coal-fired Punta Catalina power plant. “What would Pope Francis say about Monsignor Agripino’s resignation from Grupo Estrella and not from the commission? It is not a betrayal?” he tweeted.
The announcement of the appointment of the governmental commission followed revelations of US$92 million in bribes being paid in return for US$163 million worth of contracts were documented and the case is being investigated in parallel by the Attorney General Jean-Alain Rodríguez. There is speculation that the Punta Catalina power plant was overvalued in 100%, as reported in El Dia.
The case is being covered in the media amidst expectations that the outcome of this case would not be any different than from the cases involving senator Félix Bautista, former Minister of Public Works Víctor Díaz Rúa, or those of Sun Land and Super Tucano airplanes where irregularities and red flags have been extensively documented but ruling party pressure has led to them being filed away on technicalities, even by the Supreme Court of Justice.
Lawyer Carlos Eduardo Tavárez Guerrero writes in El Dia: “Now we ask, what to expect from that commission? Will they dismiss the work of the prosecutors or is the Public Ministry inoperative and all the government organizations funded to fight administrative corruption are not working? Or is this again a new diversion for the people?”
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16 January 2017
