NewsWhore
10-02-2006, 05:30 PM
The First Joint Tribunal of the National District has ordered the president and other chief executives of the now-defunct Banco Intercontinental to stand trial for irregularities that are said to reach RD$77 billion. With the scheduling of the case on the court's agenda, the case will now proceed in a regular manner. The three- judge court is presided over by Antonio Sanchez Mejia and magistrates Pilar Rufino Diaz and Giselle Mendez. They will meet every Friday, except on the 22 October, and in November the case will be heard on a daily basis, excepting holidays. In a column in today's El Caribe, Jose Baez Guerrero presents a brief summary of the events that led up to the banking crisis of 2003 that affected 20% of the nation's GDP.
Baninter began to experience problems in September 2002. As things came to a head, the Central Bank approved a merger with the Banco del Progreso. However, during the 'due diligence' phase of the operation, so many irregularities and strange operations came to light that the deal fell through, and the Monetary Board had to take control of the bank. On 13 May 2003, then Central Bank governor Jose Lois Malkun gave a speech to the nation outlining what International Monetary Fund investigators had discovered, revealing an immense fraud. A major portion of the fraud was committed at the beginning of 2003 when bank officials were instructed to erase billions of pesos in loans and overages from the books. According to Malkun, a total of RD$17 billion was wiped from the accounts, thus freeing Baninter's president and some of the officials from debt. According to Baez Guerrero the RD$17 billion that Malkun said were stolen are at the root of the case, and this is what the defense lawyers should be explaining, "instead of spreading manure left and right."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
Baninter began to experience problems in September 2002. As things came to a head, the Central Bank approved a merger with the Banco del Progreso. However, during the 'due diligence' phase of the operation, so many irregularities and strange operations came to light that the deal fell through, and the Monetary Board had to take control of the bank. On 13 May 2003, then Central Bank governor Jose Lois Malkun gave a speech to the nation outlining what International Monetary Fund investigators had discovered, revealing an immense fraud. A major portion of the fraud was committed at the beginning of 2003 when bank officials were instructed to erase billions of pesos in loans and overages from the books. According to Malkun, a total of RD$17 billion was wiped from the accounts, thus freeing Baninter's president and some of the officials from debt. According to Baez Guerrero the RD$17 billion that Malkun said were stolen are at the root of the case, and this is what the defense lawyers should be explaining, "instead of spreading manure left and right."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)