Judge Danilo Quevedo of the Third Instruction Court of the National District approved the agreement signed by the Attorney General and the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht regarding bribes that the company admitted paying in the Dominican Republic during testimony in a New York court. The agreement, whose details have not yet been revealed in full, establishes the Brazilian firm would compensate the Dominican government with US$184 million for the US$92 million in bribes it has admitted to. As reported, the Brazilian company had already issued a US$30 million check to the Dominican government as an advance payment.
Locally jurists had said the Penal Procedures Code does not allow for the homologation sought by the Attorney General for the agreement, but rather called for a standard procedure that would have been redacted, but disclosed in a public hearing.
Diario Libre reported that the press was banned from attending the hearing.
Lawyer for Odebrecht, Robert Valdez expressed his satisfaction with the court decision.
Green Movement (Marcha Verde) spokespeople said that the agreement strengthens impunity for government officials in the Dominican Republic. They dubbed the decision, “an agreement for impunity.”
Carlos Pimentel, the spokesman for the Green Movement, told reporters during a demonstration in front of the offices of the Attorney General and the Supreme Court, that the authorities should not become complacent or satisfied with the information uncovered in Brazil. Pimentel insisted that the authorities must investigate the three areas most discussed about Odebrecht in the Dominican Republic: bribery, overpricing of projects and the financing of election campaigns.
He said the agreement just announced violates the Penal Procedures Code and circumvents the carrying out of an in depth investigation into Odebrecht operations in the Dominican Republic.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
MetroRD
Diario Libre
El Caribe
El Caribe
7 Dias
20 April 2017
