The PLD-majority Chamber of Deputies rejected a proposal presented by several deputies of the PRM for the naming of a commission to investigate the contracts signed by the government with companies belonging to Brazilians Joao Santana, and his wife Monica Moura. Santana and Moura are currently in jail in Brazil having been found guilty of corruption in the Odebrecht Lava Jato case.
According to a statement by the PRM deputy Faride Raful, revealed she had received documents from the General Controller’s office of the Dominican Republic, whereby the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency had signed communication advisory contracts without holding a public tender for RD$1.4 billion. The administrative minister of the Presidency has acknowledged signing contracts amounted to RD$430 million.
According to deputy Raful, the contracts signed with Santana and Moura were in violation of the Procurement Law.
After the Chamber of Deputies rejected the petition to create a commission to investigate the case, the legislator sent out a tweet that said “the Deputies have just behaved like who they really are – a rubberstamp of the Dominican government. Danilo Medina’s Congress.”
The PRM deputy is now calling for the Specialized Prosecutor for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) to proceed with an investigation. She says there is evidence that Joao Santana was paid up until 2017, even when Santana was already in prison in Brazil, contrary to statements from the Presidency.
Faride Raful responded to the letter sent by the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency to the National Congress. She says in the supposed “denial” to the payments issued by the Executive Branch RD$1.4 billion to the companies of Joao Santana and his wife Mónica Moura, for communications advisory services there is no justification for the payments that have been confirmed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Republic.
She asked for the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency to deny the contract received from the Comptroller’s Office for contracting of services for US$1.2 million on 7 January 2016 and others.
For his part, fellow PRM deputy Robinson Diaz said that the letter received from Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta has several inconsistencies in the amounts indicated. “I am surprised that there is talk of RD$430 million when we both know that there were two contracts for RD$480 million pesos. We are talking about more than RD$1.4 billion,” said the legislator.
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19 July 2018
