The president of EGTT Edominicana, Ives Garnier, told Diario Libre that Major Domingo Batista of Santo Domingo Este obliged him to endorse 50% of the shares in the garbage collection company to Batista’s representative, Marino Feliz, in order for the city government to make payments on its debts. Both Feliz and Batista have denied their involvement in the supposed bribery. Feliz described his relationship with Batista as that of father and son, and earned a monthly salary of RD$73,000 in the garbage collection company. According to Diario Libre, he began as legal counsel, moving on to the post of operations manager in just three weeks, and eventually holding 90 of the 180 shares of the company, or 40%.
Batista also confirmed that his son and sister were employees in EGTT, but said that it was no crime.
After Batista recently rescinded the service contract with EGTT, the city government of Santo Domingo Este picked up the full responsibility for collecting the garbage, by which Batista says the city government will have savings of RD$11 million. He said the EGTT Dominicana company was billing RD$16 million a month, and the municipality itself can collect the garbage for RD$5 million.
Garnier has since left the country, but his lawyers embargoed the accounts of the Santo Domingo Este municipality in an effort to claim their payments.