Former National District attorney and political candidate Guillermo Moreno lists in an op-ed contribution in Diario Libre today the amendments made by the Dominican government to Odebrecht contracts. Moreno says that the possibility of extraordinary earnings lead the company to take the risk of paying US$92 million in bribes, and involve itself in the illicit financing of candidates and electoral campaigns.
Contracts mentioned are:
Northwest aqueduct: The contract was signed during the President Hipolito Mejia government for US$161,761,441. During the next presidency of Leonel Fernandez, the contract was amended in 2005 to US$251,687,380.
Pinalito Hydroelectric Dam: It was originally approved for US$131,721,079 in 2002 during the Hipólito Mejía government. When the PLD became government in 2004, several amendments were made. The work would be finally contracted for US$319,114,942.
Palomino Hydroelectric Dam: The initial contract was signed in 2005 for US$225,000,000. In the next three years, amendments were made increasing it to a final cost of US$594,801,548.
Samaná Aqueduct: The original contract was for US$71,258,179, but it ended up costing US$144,707,962.
Hermanas Mirabal Aqueduct: Originally contracted for US$50,000,000 but it ended up costing US$168,187,500.
Casabito-Constanza Road: From US$29,041,106, it ended up costing US$74,625,237.
Duarte Corridor: From US$163,890,541 it ended up with a cost of US$293,091,698.
Jarabacoa-Constanza road: From an original contracted US$71,538,760, it ended up with a US$100,545,360 price tag.
Bávaro-Miches road: From an initial contract of US$265,349,314, amendments increased it to US$370,195,377.
Coral Highway: From US$253,702,835, the road was increased in price to US$471,062,590.
Guillermo Moreno writes: “In the exorbitant increases of Odebrecht Works there was a mafiosi pattern to deliberately overprice the works and distribute the benefits among government officers and naturally, Odebrecht.”
He says that in the works built by Odebrecht, as admitted by the Attorney General of the Republic on page 14 of the case submitted to request pre-trial measures for those accused, there were bribes and thus all are overpriced.
Moreno says that bribes happen when the signing of the contract is to take place, but overpricing happens during the execution of the work and thus has to have the complicity of the minister or government officer in charge of the institution that represents the government. He says that Odebrecht worked directly with INAPA (National Water Corporation), CDEEE (Public Electricity Corporation) and MOPC (Ministry of Public Works).
“The heads of those ministries and public institutions were those, in different moments, who to protect their accomplices of Odebrecht, certified as good and valid the overpriced costs of the works, they accepted that the materials were in the quantity and quality as specified in the contract, were who approved the land movements declared by the delinquent company and the construction dimensions were those that were contracted, among other irregularities,” writes Moreno.
Moreno criticized that the Attorney General Office has limited itself to the investigation of the US$92 million in bribes, knowing that the bribes were just a way to the commission of a greater crime: the appropriation of public funds through the overpricing of the works.
Moreno calls for demanding a technical and financial audit of all the works built by Odebrecht, and the investigation of all the ministers and heads of the public institutions and the request that Odebrecht return what was stolen via the overpricing.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
17 July 2017
