The Third Collegiate Court of the National District set for 11 May the hearing on the Super Tucano military aircraft procurement corruption case. State prosecutors request 10 years for those involved in the corruption case that dates back to the former President Leonel Fernandez administration. Those accused are retired Major General Rafael Peña Antonio, who at the time was Minister of Defense; Colonel Carlos Piccini Núñez who served as special projects director for the Dominican Air Force, and businessman Daniel Aquino Hernandez.
The men are accused of receiving a bribe of US$3.5 million from Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica (Embraer) for the purchase of eight Super Tucanos aircraft primarily to combat drug trafficking.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested a sentence of 10 years for Daniel Aquino Hernández, Ramón Piccini Núñez and Peña Antonio and a fine of US$7 million.
The PEPCA accuses the group of accused of violating several articles of the Dominican Penal Code, Law 448-06, on Bribery in Commerce and Investment, and the former Law 72-02, on Money Laundering.
For this case of administrative corruption, the Embraer company, which admitted to the delivery of bribes, was sentenced in 2018 to pay US$7 million 40 thousand to the Dominican state.
The case was investigated after Embraer admitted in a US court to the bribes in 2017. The US Justice Department revealed that according to the company’s admissions, Embraer executives and employees paid bribes to government officials and falsified books and records in connection with aircraft sales to foreign governments and state-owned entities in multiple countries. The US Justice Department stated that in 2008, Embraer paid US$3.52 million to an influential government official in the Dominican Republic via a false agency agreement to secure a contract to sell the Dominican Air Force eight military aircraft for approximately $92 million.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
US Justice Department
US Justice
4 May 2022