Supreme Court of Justice judge Frank Soto says that the press can attend the hearing when Inmobiliaria Rofi, SRL, owned by Senator Felix Bautista (PLD-San Juan de la Maguana) asks for the judicial blocking on his property to be lifted.
Bautista did not want the press to be present but Laura Guerrero, director of the Specialized Prosecution Service for Administrative Corruption, did not oppose the decision, saying that the media could see the transparency of the process in the fight against corruption. Bautista is the organizational secretary of the ruling PLD political party and is best known as one of the most prominent rags-to-riches cases in the Dominican Republic. During most of the Leonel Fernandez administration he was the head of the Presidential Office of Supervisory Public Works that operates as a quasi-Ministry of Public Works. Earlier, the judiciary ordered the definite filing of a case that would have been heard for corruption in the use of public funds under his management.
The new hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday, 14 October 2014.
The lead story in today’s Diario Libre, Wednesday 8 October 2014, reveals that the Attorney General has blocked the titles of 155 properties said to be owned by Bautista through several companies and estimated at RD$3 billion.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2014/10/08/i827221_procuradura-investiga-bienes-atribuidos-flix-bautista-por-rd3-000-millones.html
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/10/7/340529/Juez-autoriza-la-presencia-de-la-prensa-en-conocimiento-de-solicitud-de