US confirms they are investigating airplane purchase
Opposition leaders demand profound investigation and punishment for those implicated
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. The United States ambassador, James W. Brewster, confirmed yesterday that there is an investigation open in his country in relation to the case of the alleged payment of US $3.5 million in bribes for the purchase of a fleet of Super Tucano aircraft from the Brazilian company Embraer S A.
The United States diplomat said that for the time being he cannot provide any details regarding the case, due to the fact that this could interfere with investigations.
"Right now there is an investigation underway, what you have seen in the press is certain that they are investigating, but for the moment that is all that we are able to comment, since the investigation is happening right now," said the diplomat as he answered a question from a reporter.
Brewster spoke as he took part in the opening ceremony of the VIII Yearly Congress of Basc Dominicana in the El Embajador Hotel, which this year deals with the issue of "Freight Security."
Pressure from the parties
For the leader and presidential aspirant from the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Luis Abinader, this case represents "an international embarrassment," together with the dismissal of corruption cases so that the persons responsible do not have to answer to justice. "Only a political change will keep the country from succumbing to corruption and impunity, this has to be stopped before it is too late, we can do this now through the broad unity of the political parties and social forces, personalities and citizens from all social strata and from different political orientations," said Abinader.
The opposition leader spoke after receiving the backing of the "Triumph 16 Movement," headed by the businessmen Omar Mendez and Carlos Padilla.
From their point of view, the "Broad Front" (Frente Amplio) said that this case hardly begins in the international environment, where it can fall into the hands of judges that don't dismiss cases "such as been done here with the cases of Leonel Fernandez and Victor Diaz Rua." "The US $3.5 million which a Colonel received could not have been for him alone," said the organization.
The President of the PRM, Andres Bautista, and former senators Jesus Vasquez Martinez from the province of Maria Trinidad Sanchez; Pedro Alegria, of San Jose de Ocoa, and Noe Sterling Vasquez, from Barahona, requested that Senate and the Attorney General of the Republic carry out a profound investigation of the case.
They said that their uneasiness is based on the processes of the same nature opened in the United States and Brazil.
"We consider it necessary to point out that, in our condition as former Senators of the Republic, members of the Senate which have recently learned of the approval of the financing of this commercial operation, we are requiring the Attorney General of the Republic and the other Dominican authorities, the same as in this request, to investigate, clear up and take to the ultimate consequences these accusations," indicated the former senators at a press conference.
The cause
The Dominican state acquired eight Super Tucano aircraft for a sum of US $92 million, but they are investigating if these aircraft were overvalued. The United States newspaper The Wall Street Journal published last 23 September that the Embraer company paid bribes of US $3.5 million to the former Colonel Carlos Piccini, who in 2008 was the project director of the Armed Forces after having been expelled for 10 years from the military services.
The United States diplomat said that for the time being he cannot provide any details regarding the case, due to the fact that this could interfere with investigations.
"Right now there is an investigation underway, what you have seen in the press is certain that they are investigating, but for the moment that is all that we are able to comment, since the investigation is happening right now," said the diplomat as he answered a question from a reporter.
Brewster spoke as he took part in the opening ceremony of the VIII Yearly Congress of Basc Dominicana in the El Embajador Hotel, which this year deals with the issue of "Freight Security."
Pressure from the parties
For the leader and presidential aspirant from the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Luis Abinader, this case represents "an international embarrassment," together with the dismissal of corruption cases so that the persons responsible do not have to answer to justice. "Only a political change will keep the country from succumbing to corruption and impunity, this has to be stopped before it is too late, we can do this now through the broad unity of the political parties and social forces, personalities and citizens from all social strata and from different political orientations," said Abinader.
The opposition leader spoke after receiving the backing of the "Triumph 16 Movement," headed by the businessmen Omar Mendez and Carlos Padilla.
From their point of view, the "Broad Front" (Frente Amplio) said that this case hardly begins in the international environment, where it can fall into the hands of judges that don't dismiss cases "such as been done here with the cases of Leonel Fernandez and Victor Diaz Rua." "The US $3.5 million which a Colonel received could not have been for him alone," said the organization.
The President of the PRM, Andres Bautista, and former senators Jesus Vasquez Martinez from the province of Maria Trinidad Sanchez; Pedro Alegria, of San Jose de Ocoa, and Noe Sterling Vasquez, from Barahona, requested that Senate and the Attorney General of the Republic carry out a profound investigation of the case.
They said that their uneasiness is based on the processes of the same nature opened in the United States and Brazil.
"We consider it necessary to point out that, in our condition as former Senators of the Republic, members of the Senate which have recently learned of the approval of the financing of this commercial operation, we are requiring the Attorney General of the Republic and the other Dominican authorities, the same as in this request, to investigate, clear up and take to the ultimate consequences these accusations," indicated the former senators at a press conference.
The cause
The Dominican state acquired eight Super Tucano aircraft for a sum of US $92 million, but they are investigating if these aircraft were overvalued. The United States newspaper The Wall Street Journal published last 23 September that the Embraer company paid bribes of US $3.5 million to the former Colonel Carlos Piccini, who in 2008 was the project director of the Armed Forces after having been expelled for 10 years from the military services.
Diario Libre
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