During the presentation of the defense in the Odebrechts bribes case, the defense lawyers for former minister of Public Works Victor Diaz Rua again presented evidence that one of the bank accounts attributed personally to Díaz Rúa was indeed owned by the ruling Dominican Liberation Party. The lawyers said that only PLD directors Francisco Javier García and Ramón Rivas had acess to remove funds from the account. Lawyer Ramón Núñez presented documents to hearing judge Francisco Ortega Polanco that are evidence the account was opened on 8 March 2006 to be used to fund part of the presidential campaign of former President Leonel Fernández. The account was closed on 24 December 2012.
The lawyer said that his client did not receive a peso of that account and denied prosecutor allegations that Díaz Rúa had injected RD$35 billion into the local banking system to launder the bribes received from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht for contract work in the country.
Díaz Rúa’s lawyers said that if there was illicit financial management of the account, it is the ruling PLD party that should be incriminated.
Read more in Spanish:
https://elnacional.com.do/diaz-rua-insiste-ante-juez-dinero-banco-era-del-pld/
Diario Libre
26 February 2019