Dominican senator for the province of San Juan de la Maguana, Felix Bautista, was front page news in the Miami Herald yesterday after the United States announced sanctions on the senator.
The Miami Herald reports that following the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Bautista received more than US$200 million in controversial no-bid contracts from the Haitian government for his firms to rebuild destroyed government ministries and construct housing. Few of the projects were delivered and the firms stopped work. In some cases, the government changed the scope of the projects, leading to finger-pointing among current and government leaders.
The Miami Herald last year had also reported on embezzlement accusations made to Felix Bautista and his related companies in relation to Haiti. Says the Miami Herald report: “One of the most blatant allegations involved the reconstruction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, one of 40 government buildings that crumbled during the earthquake. The Dominican firm Hadom was awarded a $14.7 million contract, and paid $10 million up front, to construct the building that remains unbuilt. Hadom’s lucrative Haiti contract is among several given to Dominican firms after the quake that became the subject of separate probes in Haiti and in neighboring Dominican Republic, where Hadom owner and Dominican Senator Félix Bautista was accused of embezzlement.”
Despite accusations for fraud to the Dominican government, his lawyers secured the permanent shelving of the case and it was never heard in the Supreme Court of Justice. Bautista, given his status as a sitting senator, can only be tried by the Supreme Court of Justice.
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Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Diario Libre
El Nacional
Diario Libre
Hoy
14 June 2018
