Lawyer Juarez Castillo Seman is optimistic that statements made over the past days by witnesses in the libel suit presented by former Supervisor of Public Works Hernani Salazar against lawyer Mario Vinicio Castillo have provided evidence to support Castillo’s position that Hernani Salazar had ties with Bladimir Garcia, a Dominican construction entrepreneur arrested in New York earlier this year on charges of drug trafficking. Castillo had commented on his La Respuesta TV show that the today senator for Duarte province, Hernani Salazar had granted a millionaire contract to Bladimir Garcia. Bladimir Garcia’s case is scheduled to be heard in New York City as part of the Quirino Paulino Castillo drug smuggling case set for 6 September.
The defense in the Salazar vs. Castillo case has concentrated on presenting how Hernani Salazar’s intervention was crucial in the decision to award Bladimir Garcia’s company, Consorcio Elite, 50% of the contract for the renovation of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, when the tender had been won by another company, Conacero. Consorcio Elite came in second place but impugned the contest in court alleging that it was an illegal tender. The impugnation was placed by Rafael Guevara, who at the time was administrator of the construction projects of Bladimir Garcia. Bladimir’s company Construgar, a partner in Consorcio Elite, also benefited from a millionaire government contract to build multi-use sports installations nationwide and is being investigated in the drug smuggling case pending in a New York court.
Castillo said that at the time Sports Minister Cesar Cedeno had backed the tender’s winner, Conacero, until receiving an order “to forcefully rig the tender and grant 50% of the contract (US$13 million) to Consorcio Elite, of which Construgar (the company owned by Bladimir) was a partner.
The Venezuelan partner of Conacero, Carlos Carrion said in court that it was a take-it-or-leave it situation. “It was an act of resignation and hard to swallow for Consorcio Conacero to concede 50% of the contract that we had legitimately won,” he said. He explained that during the meetings to reach an agreement with Consorcio Elite, engineer Salazar was introduced by Sports Minister Cesar Cedeno. As reported in Hoy newspaper, Castillo explained: “Some very basic things are being proven here. The tender was split in two because Consorcio Elite requested the mediation of engineer Hernani Salazar, as Rafael Guevara, representative of Bladimir Garcia’s construction businesses, stated in the questioning.
The case continues today as of 2 pm in the Fifth Penal Court presided by Judge Esther Agelan Casasnovas.