Confusing reports of declarations, denials and more contradictory stories have been coming forth as the press follows the trail of investigations into a scandal at the government real estate department, Bienes Nacionales. The purchaser of the property, Edmon Elias Barnichta Geara, now says he paid RD$4 million for the lot, not RD$3.5 million. He also retracted his first statement that the money had been returned to him by the wife of Samuel Dario Nuñez Guzman, to whom documents indicate the state (Bienes Nacionales) sold the property for a fraction of its worth. Nuñez, who had been abroad, returned and visited the government Anticorruption Department to give his version of what happened. Meanwhile, the suspended director of Bienes Nacionales, Victor Tio Fernandez, told the Listin Diario that behind the scandal there are many interested parties. He says he is being sacrificed. He complained that the board of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano has not shown their solidarity to him, despite his being a member of the political committee. "My only sin was to have helped the PRD party members; if they want to crucify me, then may they crucify me," he told the Listin. He says he maintains his version that his signature was falsified and that he did not receive money for the transaction. "All I did was help my fellow PRD party members and many people," he told the newspaper. Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez in his Sunday televised comment urged the government to clarify the situation. This can of worms is the result of the delays of this and previous governments in putting controls in place to prevent similar situations.
