On Monday, 11 June 2018, a Santiago court convicted former mayor, Gilberto Serulle, to six months in jail and the payment of a fine and compensation for supposedly having issued checks without sufficient funds to a contractor at the end of his term in office.
Judge Yasmín de los Santos Ortiz ordered Serullle to serve his sentence at the Rafey male jail in Santiago and also ordered Serulle to pay a fine of RD$250,000 and compensation of RD$354,286 to the plaintiff, Michael Arbaje Pimentel. However, Serulle is still to remain at liberty until 2 July 2018.
The former mayor said that the sentence was a bad precedent for mayors and that the plaintiff should have sued city hall, not him personally. He reminded that in July 2016 the plaintiff’s company received two checks from City Hall that were deposited after 10 August 2016 when the transition phase was coming to an end and new mayor Abel Martínez was taking over and the bank did not honor the checks.
He finished by saying it was the authorities themselves who took on the responsibility for paying for the works carried out by the plaintiff and not him personally.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
13 June 2018
