In a special edition of her “El Informe con Alicia Ortega” on Wednesday, 26 June 2019, investigative journalist Alicia Ortega presented findings related to the Dominican Republic included in the ICIJ-La Posta file on corruption by the Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht. Four months ago, Ortega was invited to be part of the 17 media partners across the Americas that make up the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that are carrying out a private investigation into graft related to Odebrecht contract work in the Americas. On 25 June 2019, media in the Americas began to release the findings of their inquiries into the data.
Ortega explained that the new files give specific details to US$39 million that was transferred by Odebrecht to companies that received payments from the Structured Division that Odebrecht admitted to Brazilian and US judiciary was used to pay bribes to expedite contract work. The Structured Division was based in the Dominican Republic.
Ortega said that many of these findings had already been provided to the Attorney General Office but Dominican prosecutors have not acted on the information. She said that what is new is that the files that the ICIJ journalists have had access to are linked explicitly to a “thermo plant.” The only thermoelectrical plant carried out by Odebrecht is the Punta Catalina thermoelectric 752MW coal-fired plant in the Dominican Republic.
Ortega says that the Attorney General Office under Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez has already demanded she hand in over the files. She said that she advised the prosecutors to do their own search as the material is now public. As a result of a previous investigation, Ortega had been required to turn in her findings on corruption in the Santo Domingo Metro Office by engineer Diandino Peña. She did so, but neither she nor the general public is aware of any actions by the prosecutors to follow up on the evidence of corruption she uncovered in that case.
Before the airing of her investigative report, in a telephone interview with Mariasela Alvarez for “Esta Noche con Mariasela,” Ortega confirmed that the offshore company, Bakers Street Financial owned by Dominican economist Andres Dauhajre, received a transfer for US$3.3 million from the Structured Division payment scheme. Speaking during the “Esta Noche con Mariasela” TV show, PRM deputy Faride Raful, who has been following Punta Catalina corruption since 2015, said that Dauhajre had been previously hired in November 2013 by the Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) to assess the power plant valuation then set at US$2 billion. He was contracted for US$750,000 for that consultancy. Subsequently, in January 2014, Dauhajre was hired by Odebrecht and advised Odebrecht on finding financing for the coal-fired power plant. Ortega spoke with Dauhajre who told her that the US$3.3 million payment was for his consultancy services.
Deputy Raful remarked that since she became a deputy in 2016, she has presented evidence of corruption related to the Punta Catalina power plant in Congress but has been ignored. She gave evidence of the illegal credit line the Banco de Reservas has provided to the power plant, without congressional approval, she remarked on the TV show.
Raful was also critical that the Attorney General did not proceed on irregularities detected by the official commission called by President Danilo Medina to study the Punta Catalina plant. The Attorney General decided not to include the Punta Catalina plant in the US$92 million Odebrecht bribes case that is being heard in the Supreme Court. Deputy Raful says that the good news is that with a new attorney general in a new government that could come in the May 2020 general election, the case could be tried. Raful said the power plant originally would have cost US$940 million, but this has climbed to a contracted US$2 billion and now estimates of costs of more than US$3 billion.
El Informe con Alicia Ortega
Esta Noche Mariasela — Mariasela Alvarez, Faride Raful and Diana Lora
El Dia
N Digital
N Digital
27 June 2019