NewsWhore
03-28-2012, 02:10 PM
Yesterday, Tuesday, 27 March, the PLD-majority Senate showed its support for San Juan de la Maguana Senator Felix Bautista (PLD), who defended the building of 3,000 homes by his companies in Haiti.
Bautista said that the work was carried out after winning a public tender when former Haitian President Rene Preval was in power, later checked by current Haitian President Michel Martelly and former United States president Bill Clinton. The contracts are said to be worth US$385 million.
Bautista said that he has all the legal documents and that he was happy to show them to anyone who asked.
He said that in a letter to Hoy newspaper on 2 March, former Haitian prime minister Garry Conille said that parliament had given Preval the power to grant contracts to companies without the need for a tender, given the state of emergency after the earthquake, but that the tender process was carried out nonetheless. Conille resigned from the Martelly government after clashing with the President over issues of the nationality of government officials o including that Martelly has an American passport o an investigation of US$300 million in post-earthquake contracts and who controls government ministers.
Bautista attributed the accusations against him to the PRD, saying that they were panicking because "they know that Danilo and Margarita are going to win the elections in the first round."
Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez clarified that there is nothing in the 2010 Constitution that prohibits a senator from exercising his profession, in this case engineering. The Senator from San Juan can have a company, since this has shareholders, and a different legal status. Article 77 of the 2010 Constitution reads: "A position in the Senate or Chamber of Deputies shall not be held concurrently with any other public function or office, except teaching positions."
A controversial figure often described as a protege of President Leonel Fernandez, Bautista has been criticized for bloated construction costs in many public works under his responsibility, when he directed the Supervisory Office of Public Works of the Presidency. They include the notable cases of remodeling of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the state university (UASD) buildings with Sun Land financing. He was also mentioned in the Jose David Figueroa Agosto drug trafficking case for awarding construction contracts in violation of Dominican law to Mary Pelaez, sentenced for complicity in the case. Bautista's companies have been awarded US$385 million worth of contracts in Haiti, as reported in El Nacional.
www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/3/28/420839/Felix-Bautista-se-defiende (http://www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/3/28/420839/Felix-Bautista-se-defiende)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14244/56/Bautista-obtuvo-contratos-multimillonarios-para-el-y-sus-amigos-en-OISOE.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14244/56/Bautista-obtuvo-contratos-multimillonarios-para-el-y-sus-amigos-en-OISOE.html)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/5283/56/Guillermo-emplaza-a-Felix-Bautista-y-a-Reinaldo-Pared-por-caso-narco-Figueroa.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/5283/56/Guillermo-emplaza-a-Felix-Bautista-y-a-Reinaldo-Pared-por-caso-narco-Figueroa.html)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14374/56/La-FINJUS-dice-Felix-Bautista-debe-explicar-sus-operaciones-en-Haiti.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14374/56/La-FINJUS-dice-Felix-Bautista-debe-explicar-sus-operaciones-en-Haiti.html)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/24/2658568/haiti-prime-minister-garry-conille.html#storylink=cpy
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Bautista said that the work was carried out after winning a public tender when former Haitian President Rene Preval was in power, later checked by current Haitian President Michel Martelly and former United States president Bill Clinton. The contracts are said to be worth US$385 million.
Bautista said that he has all the legal documents and that he was happy to show them to anyone who asked.
He said that in a letter to Hoy newspaper on 2 March, former Haitian prime minister Garry Conille said that parliament had given Preval the power to grant contracts to companies without the need for a tender, given the state of emergency after the earthquake, but that the tender process was carried out nonetheless. Conille resigned from the Martelly government after clashing with the President over issues of the nationality of government officials o including that Martelly has an American passport o an investigation of US$300 million in post-earthquake contracts and who controls government ministers.
Bautista attributed the accusations against him to the PRD, saying that they were panicking because "they know that Danilo and Margarita are going to win the elections in the first round."
Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez clarified that there is nothing in the 2010 Constitution that prohibits a senator from exercising his profession, in this case engineering. The Senator from San Juan can have a company, since this has shareholders, and a different legal status. Article 77 of the 2010 Constitution reads: "A position in the Senate or Chamber of Deputies shall not be held concurrently with any other public function or office, except teaching positions."
A controversial figure often described as a protege of President Leonel Fernandez, Bautista has been criticized for bloated construction costs in many public works under his responsibility, when he directed the Supervisory Office of Public Works of the Presidency. They include the notable cases of remodeling of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the state university (UASD) buildings with Sun Land financing. He was also mentioned in the Jose David Figueroa Agosto drug trafficking case for awarding construction contracts in violation of Dominican law to Mary Pelaez, sentenced for complicity in the case. Bautista's companies have been awarded US$385 million worth of contracts in Haiti, as reported in El Nacional.
www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/3/28/420839/Felix-Bautista-se-defiende (http://www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/3/28/420839/Felix-Bautista-se-defiende)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14244/56/Bautista-obtuvo-contratos-multimillonarios-para-el-y-sus-amigos-en-OISOE.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14244/56/Bautista-obtuvo-contratos-multimillonarios-para-el-y-sus-amigos-en-OISOE.html)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/5283/56/Guillermo-emplaza-a-Felix-Bautista-y-a-Reinaldo-Pared-por-caso-narco-Figueroa.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/5283/56/Guillermo-emplaza-a-Felix-Bautista-y-a-Reinaldo-Pared-por-caso-narco-Figueroa.html)
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14374/56/La-FINJUS-dice-Felix-Bautista-debe-explicar-sus-operaciones-en-Haiti.html (http://www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/14374/56/La-FINJUS-dice-Felix-Bautista-debe-explicar-sus-operaciones-en-Haiti.html)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/24/2658568/haiti-prime-minister-garry-conille.html#storylink=cpy
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)