Judge appointed to hear the accusations against Felix Bautista

SANTO DOMINGO. The judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra, was appointed to hear the accusations for alleged acts of corruption and money laundering, formulated by the Attorney General of the Republic, Francisco Dominguez Brito, against Senator Felix Bautista.

The Chief Justice of the SCJ, Mariano German Mejia, issued Order Num. 84 - 2014, appointing Moscoso Segarra as a judge of Special Instruction for the process.

He said that the case deals with a request for the designation of a judge of Special Instruction in order to proceed with a hearing of the admissibility of the charges and the request to open a trial.

Dominguez Brito is asking the court to accept the totality of the charges brought against the legislator, as well as against Soraida Antonia Abreu Martinez, José Elias Hernandez Garcia, Bolivar Antonio Ventura Rodriguez, Carlos Manuel Ozoria Martinez, Gricel Aracelis Soler Pimentel and Bienvenido Apolinar Breton Medina.

The charges formulated against the Secretary of Organization of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) are for alleged acts against the Constitution, falsifying public documents, falsifying private documents, the use of false documents, prevarication, fraud and issues incompatible with his position as a public official.

The other defenders have the judicial qualification of alleged complicity in the acts.

The Attorney General requests that the court impose coercive measures consisting of preventive custody on the defendants.

The challenge

The Plenary of the SCJ ordered maintaining the empowerment for magistrate Frank Soto Sanchez to continue hearing the request to remove a series of embargoes on property assets of the Inmobiliaria Rofi company, of which Bautista is one of their principal shareholders.

The tribunal rejected the challenge made by the National Convergence of Lawyers (CONA), which was joined by lawyers Remberto Pichardo Juan; the former District Attorney of the National District, Josefina Juan, the widow Pichardo, Rafael Percival Peña, Juan Thomas Taveras Rodriguez, Alexander Rosario, Melvin Velazquez Then and Hermes Urbaez.

The Attorney General's office placed warning notes against more than 155 property assets that they say correspond to the Inmobiliaria Rofi S. R. L., and other companies supposedly related to the legislator.

Bautista rejects the accusations of the Justice Department, which he attributes to a political persecution.