Diario Libre publishes a follow up to a story in which it revealed that the Minister of Housing is the founder and still today partner in CBS Developments Nuevas Terrazas, S.R.L., the company that purchased the 154,000 square meters lot where the vehicular retention center (El Canódromo) has operated for years in Santo Domingo province. CBS Developments is a real estate developer. Media reports have indicated it is responsible for a major housing development located next door to the Canódromo lot.
Diario Libre publishes on Monday, 12 December 2022 the letter received from CBS Developments. Despite efforts, previously no one at the company had been available to answer receive reporter Tania Molina. To this date, Housing Minister Carlos Bonilla has been unavailable for comments.
The lot was purchased after Bonilla had been named Minister of Housing in a sale carried out by the Central Bank. Diario Libre says that CBS Developments executives were not available for an interview and requested that a list of questions be sent to them in writing. The newspaper reports that not all the questions were responded.
In its response, the company explains that the Minister of Housing Carlos Bonilla separated himself from any management or decision-making function within CBS Developments before assuming his responsibilities as director of INVI, the housing agency that was merged during the Abinader administration to create the Ministry of Housing. Bonilla was named to this position at the start of the Abinader administration in August 2020. CBS Developments states that currently Bonilla is but a partner in the company. “Consequently, the part of the process that continued after August 2020, was led operationally and legally by the new legal representative of the company, in his capacity as manager of CBS Developments, José Ricardo Mercado,” states the company to explain why Bonilla has not been available for questioning.
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Diario Libre
DR1 News
12 December 2022