Muckracking journalist Marino Zapete is standing strong despite harassment and intimidation from government officers. A first instance court ordered Zapete and Maybeth Rodriguez Sanchez to present the evidence for the case in the next hearing. Maybeth Rodriguez Sanchez sued the journalist after the later presented evidence that she had signed two illicit contracts for asphalt procurement to the Ministry of Public Works with presidential nominee Gonzalo Castillo. At the time Gonzalo Castillo was Minister of Public Works.
The hearing last week was for a conciliation. Lawyers representing Rodriguez Sanchez had requested that Zapete retract his statements. Defense Lawyer Elsa Trinidad Gutierrez says that Zapete stands behind the evidence presented and seeks that the claims be investigated on grounds that the violations found in the government procurement under Castillo are of public interest.
Given that the parties did not reach an agreement, the judge ordered the parties to convene in January to hear the evidence backing the defamation suit and the evidence of the veracity of what Zapete presented on El Jarabe. The judge ordered the case to be postponed until 24 January 2020.
During his El Jarabe TV show on 25 September 2019, Zapete presented evidence Maybeth Rodriguez Sanchez had signed two contracts on behalf of Asimra SRL. Zapete has also presented evidence that Rodriguez Sánchez was fully entrusted by Asimra SRL to sign, issue checks and determine the use of funds and to represent the company.
Zapete presented evidence of a third contract signed in 2013 by Masiel Usieta Sanchez in addition to the two signed in 2017 (September and November) by Maybeth Rodriguez Sanchez for RD$1 billion. Lawyer Trinidad later revealed that Masiel Usieta Sanchez is married to lawyer Hilario Ochoa Estrella. Ochoa Estrella is on the Attorney General Office payroll with RD$140,000 a month since Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez was appointed. Rodriguez Sanchez is Maybeth Rodríguez Sanchez’s brother.
Zapete presented evidence that the Ministry of Public Works had irregularly used a 2003 urgency procedure that was issued during the government of President Hipólito Mejia on occasion of the Pan Am Games public works to justify the contracting.
During the hearing, Zapete had the backing of fellow investigative journalists Alicia Ortega, Nuria Piera, Patricia Solano, Edith Febles, Amelia Deschamps, Huchi Lora, among others. Former Supreme Court of Justice penal judge Miriam German was also present to back Zapete.
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23 December 2019