Radio and TV journalist Marino Zapete wants a government explanation for the around RD$1.2 billion paid he showed evidence that the state has paid to a company represented by Maybeth Virginia Rodríguez Sánchez, sister to Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez for supplying road construction materials and for road construction works. The Office of Engineers Supervisors of State Works (OISOE), a division of the Presidency of the Republic, and the Ministry of Public Works (MOPC) signed the contracts. Gonzalo Castillo was the minister of Public Works at the time. Today he is running for the presidential candidacy of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in the 6 October 2019 primary.
During his “El Jarabe” TV show on 25 September 2019, Zapete presented government certificates from the OISOE and the MOPC whereby the company represented by Rodríguez Sánchez received contract work without the required tenders, in violation of the Government Procurement Law. He also presented certificates that prove that Rodríguez had irregularly benefited with contract work when she was on the payroll of the OISOE with RD$60,000 a month as an administrative assistant. Rodríguez Sánchez was hired in September 2012, a month after President Danilo Medina took office for his first term.
Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez is in charge of prosecuting the Odebrecht corruption scandal in the Dominican Republic. When serving as Public Works Minister, Gonzalo Castillo oversaw the construction of several road works carried out by Odebrecht that have not been independently audited nor included in the Odebrecht prosecution case. Media reports have signaled these out for irregularities.
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26 September 2019