NewsWhore
02-11-2009, 02:10 PM
The case against the mayor of Bani, Nelson Camilo Landestoy, and six councilmen involved in the lease of 56,993 square meters of protected area within the Bani dunes has been closed, reports the Listin Diario. Judge Felix Maria Matos Acevedo, in charge of the first judicial procedures in the case, accepted a request from the Environmental Prosecutor Andres Chalas to close the case. Chalas explained that the environmental groups that had challenged the mayor, Grupo Mundo Ecologico, Grupo Jaragua, Consorcio Ambiental Dominicano, Sociedad Ecologica de Bani and Grupo Ecologista Tinglar reached an agreement on 5 February whereby the lease of the area of the dunes of Bani with a third party company was rescinded by the Bani government officers. The decision was taken because Law 202-04 says that public areas that fall under the national protected areas system cannot be transferred to a third party under any circumstance. The Listin first published the story of the lease on 9 October 2007, indicating that during an ordinary session, the councilmen and Mayor Landestoy had approved a request for the lease of the area for 10 years to Ciramar International company, a ship building firm.
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