2003 – Page 242

Ram?n B?ez Figueroa and two other Baninter executives have spent their first night in jail. This follows Tuesday night’s revelations of the unprecedented scale of alleged fraud within the collapsed bank. B?ez Figueroa, along with the bank’s vice presidents, Vivian Lubrano de Castillo and Marcos B?ez Cocco, are being held in cells at the Palace …

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Ram?n B?ez Figueroa is being represented by well-known lawyer Marino (Vincho) Castillo, who has strongly criticized the Central Bank?s handling of the case. The defense machinery rolled into action the moment Central Bank Governor Jos? Lois Malkum’s speech confirmed that the case would not be swept under the carpet and escalated its activities yesterday, when …

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International businessman Luis Alvarez Renta, who has accompanied President Hip?lito Mej?a on many of his trips abroad, was appointed ambassador to France on 2 April. Yesterday, however, following the Governor of the Central Bank?s announcement that Alvarez Renta was involved in the Baninter debacle, President Hip?lito Mej?a dismissed him from that post by way of …

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El Caribe crunches the numbers of Baninter’s liquid assets, concluding that they do not fill the gap left by the mega-fraud allegedly perpetrated by Baninter. The assessment is that the US$113.6 million (just under RD$3 billion) is nowhere near the RD$55 billion required. The list of companies that could be liquidated to cover the void …

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The leading private business association CONEP released a statement yesterday, voicing support for, and offering co-operation with, the government’s handling of the Baninter affair, while calling on the judicial process against the accused individuals to be handled fairly and independently. Labeling the Baninter collapse as an isolated case that should not shake faith in the …

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Chief of the Supreme Court, Judge Jorge Subero Isa, is among the first of a list of high-profile figures that are coming forward to deny they benefited from B?ez Figueroa’s ?generosity?. Subero Isa said that Central Bank Governor Jos? Lois Malkum’s Tuesday night speech, in which the magnitude of the scandal was revealed, came as …

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Hoy newspaper?s editorial today says that the Baninter situation, which it describes as shameful and the worst financial scandal ever to shake the Republic, was not caused by rumor or hearsay. The writer says that whenever any rumor reached the press, the monetary authorities chose to deny the news of difficulties at the bank. The …

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As reported in El Caribe, Dominican newspaper editor Rafael Molina Morillo, president of the Freedom of Press Commission of the Interamerican Press Association (IAPA), requested yesterday that President Hip?lito Mej?a ?refrain from invoking measures of national security to limit the practice of journalism and impose previous censorship in the country.? Yesterday in his report to …

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Former CONEP president Marino Ginebra and Pablo Linares of the Association of Foreign Investors (ASIEX) have added their voices to the call for the dollarization of the Dominican economy, as originally proposed by the IMF. Ginebra believes dollarization to be the only option for the government if it wishes to progress without encountering major obstacles. …

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Nelson G?mez, president of the Administrative Chamber of the Central Electoral Board, has called on President Hip?lito Mej?a to provide more funds for the promotion and administration of registering Dominicans residing abroad to vote in the 2004 presidential election. G?mez is claiming that the 2003 budget allocation of RD$39 million is insufficient to cover the …

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