The Presidency of the Republic has replied to PRM Deputy Faride Raful in regards to her request that legislators investigate why the government continued paying corporations tied to Joao Santana and his wife Monica Moura, after they had been arrested in Brazil, accused of administrative corruption.
According to a letter sent to the Chamber of Deputies that was read out in the session on Tuesday 17 July 2018, the payment was confirmed and was due to pre-established contracts. The letter said that the government paid was a little more than RD$430 million and not the RD$1.4 billion requested to be investigated. The letter was not accompanied by attachments confirming the statements. The letter was signed by José Ramón Peralta, Administrative Minister to the Presidency and government spokesman, Roberto Rodríguez Marchena.
According to the Medina administration, the payments were for advertising campaigns on prevention of traffic accidents, prevention of Chikungunya outbreak and mosquito bites, the inauguration of the Nueva Barquita, among other government campaigns.
Both Santana and his partner Moura were advisers to President Medina’s election campaigns for both the 2012-2016 and 2016-2020 terms in office.
When journalists asked the President directly, he referred the questions to Congress. President Medina has been criticized for not being accessible to the press.
Meanwhile, legislator Faride Raful has denied that she had details on the payments made by the government to the companies of Santana and Moura.
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18 July 2018
