Investigative journalist Alicia Ortega presented evidence of close ties of major meals suppliers to jails in the Dominican Republic to companies related to former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez. The Attorney General Office is in charge of the jail operations in the Dominican Republic.
While in the past the meals were provided by the governmental Comedores Económicos, in 2014 then Attorney General Francisco Domínguez Brito opened up the contracting to meal providers located in the jail communities to have savings and improve quality. Nevertheless, Ortega indicates that when Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez was appointed attorney general during the Medina administration in 2016, the rules for contracting that originally had prevailed were changed and the volume of contracting escalated considerably.
The findings link several meal provider companies to former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez himself. Rodríguez already faces charges for corruption in office in other instances and is in preventive custody in Najayo Jail.
Ortega revealed that government procurement for inmate meals tripled from RD$299 million in 2014 to more than RD$1 billion by March 2021. The journalist identified as beneficiaries at least four companies that had ties among themselves and ties to attorney general Rodríguez Sánchez who held the position from 2016 to 2020.
Ortega reports that the increase in the cost of the meals provided happened at a time when the jail population had increased by less than 5%, going from 25,898 to 27,165 inmates. Inflation was not a factor, as in 2018 it stood at 3.5% and in 2019 it had dropped to 1.81%.
As reported on the TV episode, the common thread among four of the 10 linked companies that won the last bidding in January 2020 is Army Sergeant José Miguel Estrada Jackson, who is an avid bowler, according to El Informe.
In its coverage on the Alicia Ortega, Acento names the four lead beneficiary companies. These are Rogama SRL, that benefited received contracts for RD$133.9 million from 2018 to 2020; Distribuidora Ropi, SRL, with RD$134.2 million in contracts also during the same period; Ropalma SRL, a company that was awarded a contract for RD$95.4 million in January 2020; and Inversiones Zwaziland, with contracts for RD$345.9 million between 2016 and 2020.
One of the shareholders of Ropalma is Hilda Cristina Jackson Mallol, mother of Estrada Jackson. One of the partners of Distribuidora Ropi, is the father-in-law of Jackson. Ortega also established Jackson’s ties to Rogama through Panificadora J & N, of which he was a partner.
Ortega indicated that Inversiones Zwaziland’s address in the Herrera industrial zone coincides with that of Panificadora J & N.
Zwaziland has two shareholders, Reynaldo de Jesús Santos de la Cruz and José Arístides Braga Chavier. Braga Chavier told El Informe: “I was taken in good faith and I lent him a license in my name, but I never participated in that (…). It can be proven that I have never signed any of those documents.”
Braga Chavier assured he found out about his participation when former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez was arrested for the Medusa case. “I work for a company that apparently has something to do with that gentleman (…) for the store El Juguetazo”, which he said is owned by the Sebelén family, famous for their bowling sport activities.
When asked how they obtained his cédula for the company, Braga said: “If I am not mistaken it was Rafy Sebelén,” referring to Rolando Rafael Sebelén, who is married to Ariadne Rodríguez Sánchez, sister of the former prosecutor.
Neither Sebelén nor Estrada Jackson responded to repeated calls from El Informe for their version of events.
The investigative program also found a fifth company, Divamor Group, created just two months before receiving a RD$95.8 million contract in January 2020, with ties to Estrada Jackson.
One of its shareholders, Francisco Alberto Vásquez Féliz, said: “Estrada Jackson was (…) a kind of manager, because there was food that we didn’t have and then he would say well, you can get it there, you can get it here.”
The astronomical increase in the costs in the weekly allocation for food in the prisons is reflected in the specifications of the last bidding process carried out under the command of the former attorney general, Acento reports.
In its coverage on the Alicia Ortega TV show, Acento pointed out that at Najayo Hombres jail, food procurement went from RD$830 thousand per week to RD$1.3 billion; Rafey Hombres, in Santiago, increased from RD$402 thousand to RD$1.05 billion, up 162%. Procurement for food for the CCR XX in San Cristóbal went from RD$260 thousand to RD$1.14 billion, up 339%. Food for the Juan de la Maguana jail went from RD$199 thousand to RD$1.34 billion, up 575%.
Read more in Spanish:
El Informe con Alicia Ortega
Acento
Hoy
10 November 2021