On Monday night, 6 March 2017, former President Hipolito Mejía in an 18-minute address assured the nation that he was not involved in the Odebrecht bribery scandal. Mejia said the Odebrecht affair is an opportunity for the justice system to end corruption and impunity in the country.
Speaking on several radio and television channels, Mejía said that although many government officials have taken advantage of their position for personal gain, it was not the case when it came to him.
He said he had nothing to hide and challenged anyone who had proof that he or members of his family had been involved in any corrupt acts to come forward. And if these allegations are proven correct, he would retire from political life and hand return any ill-gotten gains back to the state.
Meanwhile, the president of the commission that is investigating the sale of land belonging to the State Sugar Company (CEA) has accused former President Hipolito Mejía of enabling the sale of land by CEA via a real estate agency.
Minister without portfolio, Bautista Rojas Gómez, accused Mejía of misleading the public on Monday night, when the former President said he was free of corruption. Rojas Gómez said that Mejía should ask forgiveness from the country as it was he who created the real estate division of the CEA in 2001, effectively legitimizing the sale of state-owned land that was part of the CEA assets. Experts and investigative journalists have reported a series of irregularities regarding the sale of government property by the real estate division of CEA over the years.
Interviewed by Danny Alcantara and Oscar Medina on the program Hoy Mismo, on Color Vision, on Channel 9, Rojas Gómez said that of 44,000 property sales executed by CEA, the commission has revised nearly 13,000 sales transactions and audited another 7,000 transactions, some of which are apparently not in the CEA archives.
In his address on 6 March, Mejía accused the ruling PLD party of protecting its government officials in the Odebrecht corruption scandal. He stated: “In the country there is a long rosary of cases of corruption that have been overlooked to protect officials of the PLD governments who have committed malicious acts without a regime of consequences that will stop impunity. ” He added: “Impunity encourages corruption, diverts public funds that should be invested in improving the quality of life of people and contributes to the perpetuation of poverty and social exclusion.”
Read more in Spanish:
El Nacional
Hoy
MetroRD
Read more about the CEA scandal at:
Diario Libre
