Senator Bautista, close ally of Leonel Fernandez, sanctioned by the US Treasury on corruption

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - In Brief 14 Jun 2018 by Pavel Isa
Early this week, under the so-called Magnistky Law, the US State Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Senator Felix Bautista, a close ally of former President Leonel Fernandez, for engaging in corrupt acts, including in relation to reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Senator Bautista was tried in the past in the Dominican Republic for corruption but acquitted by the Supreme Court of Justice which is under strong influence of Fernandez. Dominican public opinion considers Bautista the epitome of corruption. The sanction is a significant blow for Fernandez’s aspirations to become the PLD Presidential nominee and comes in the context of a strong push and political momentum for Fernandez, who have been able, with support of the PRM, to stop Medina’s attempts to pass a version of the bill on political parties convenient to him and which would give him greater influence in the designation of the nominees for the 2020 elections. On top of the US sanction to Bautista, Victor Diaz, another close ally of Fernandez and former minister of public works, was finally indicted for the Odebretch bribery case and many details of the operations and the amount of money amassed by Diaz have being made public. These two events complicate Fernandez’s aspirations and hurt PLD since Bautista is the party’s Secretary of Organization and Diaz is the party’s Secretary of Finance. Various high-profile figures of the PLD have called for the resignation or replacement of both. They also provides more space for President Medina within the PLD as corruption under Fernandez is, once again, in the headlines.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this or its contents.