The Dominican government has warned that in regards to the Odebrecht administrative corruption case, “he who falls, falls.” Once again, PLD government spokesmen say they will apply the full force of the law to anyone found guilty of taking bribes. The government has not yet addressed the issue of overvaluations and the attention has focused on the taking of bribes.
Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ramón Peralta, defended the decision of the government to set up a commission to investigate the contractual process of the Punta Catalina coal-fired plant. He stressed the government would collaborate with all investigations in the corruption scandal and bring the guilty parties to justice.
The international construction company, Odebrecht has admitted to giving US$92 million in bribes to obtain US$163 million in contracted work in the Dominican Republic. The announcement of the presidential commission coincides with the opening of investigations by Attorney General Jean-Alain Rodríguez into the bribery allegations.
So far, the Odebrecht general manager in the country, Marcelo Hofke, has been questioned and Odebrecht commercial representative Angel Rondón, the local business representative has admitted receiving the same amount of money as Odebrecht has admitted to having paid in bribes. Rondón nevertheless said these were his fees for securing the contract work for Odebrecht.
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Listin Diario
18 January 2017
