The anti-impunity civic movement, Green March announced it backs the request for the Chamber of Deputies to question resigning Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo on his management at the Ministry of Public Works.
Castillo resigned the position on 1 August 2019 to dedicate himself to campaign for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) presidential nomination. The ruling party will choose the candidate in the 6 October 2019 primary. The PLD leadership decided that the party primary be open to the vote of any eligible voter in the Dominican Republic.
Marcha Verde directors want to hear from the former government officer on six public works carried out by the Brazilian company, Odebrecht under his administration. The group says that addendums were added to the budgets for more than US$100 million that doubled the cost of these contracts. Dominican law allows contracts to be increased up to 25%.
On 25 June 2019, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism released new findings on suspect cash for contracts payments made by the Structured Bribery Division that operated in the Dominican Republic. On the new list are the six public works that were carried out under the management of former Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo. These are the Miches-Sabana de la Mar road, the Touristic Boulevard in Punta Cana, the expansion of the San Pedro de Macorís highway, the Coral highway, the Cibao Sur highway and the Ecovía in Santiago.
In the Dominican Republic, ICIJ member, Alicia Ortega released the findings.
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5 August 2019