Former officials of Hipolito Mejia’s government who had been accused of corruption in the case involving greenhouses worth hundreds of millions of pesos have been found innocent by the magistrate of the Second Chamber of Instruction for the National District, Vanesa Acosta. Heading the list of the accused was former Ministers of Agriculture, Eligio Jaquez and Jose Antonio Fabelo, along with Jaquez’ brother and a long list of PRD officials or their family members. The magistrate ordered that the travel restrictions imposed on the accused be removed at once.
According to the judge, the case presented by the Attorney General lacked sufficient proof and contained errors in procedure that caused the case to be tossed out. The Justice Department had accused the entire group, rather than each individual, of embezzlement, criminal association, fraud, abuse of trust in the case involving RD$500 million worth of greenhouses that were given away to the PRD faithful.