NewsWhore
09-20-2007, 06:30 PM
The PRD political party is accusing President Leonel Fernandez of signing promissory notes for US$130 million, without Congressional authorization and in violation of the Constitution. PRD President Ramon Alburquerque and Secretary General Orlando Jorge Mera said that Fernandez took on the foreign debt behind the Dominican public's back. The PRD claims that on 12 May 2006 President Fernandez gave Felix Bautista, director of the Office of Engineers and Supervisors of State Works (OISOE), the authority to sign for the debt that would be borrowed with a foreign commercial bank for use in works carried out by his office. "The 19 promissory notes of the Dominican government are for US$6,842,105 each, or US$130 million in favor of The Sun Land Corporation RD and the HSBC Bank USA," said the politicians.
The PRD says that the money was for projects that were represented by Bautista's office and the Sun Land Corporation. As reported in Diario Libre, the debt would be used for the construction of works for the UASD university and other public works deemed priority by the OISOE office.
In the press conference, the PRD reminded the press that the Sun Land Corporation was the same company that was the intermediary for a US$132 million loan that was intended to provide equipment for the National Police, but was rejected by Congress because of the scandals surrounding that deal when it was ascertained that several items were significantly overvalued.
The PRD is claiming that no one knows what has been done with the funds and says that not even the IMF knew about the loan. The PRD is claiming that the PLD's unwillingness to sign a new IMF agreement is because of their plans to take out more loans.
Hoy newspaper reports today that a letter from The Sun Land Corporation RD, S.A. addressed to Treasury Minister Vicente Bengoa Albizu, states, that "regarding your request for an explanation about the copy of notification of the pending debt with HSBC, Panama, we hereby make it known that the disbursement carried out by this bank was to our company and thus the Dominican government has not contracted a financial commitment with this bank and the payments of the quotas have been carried out by our company."
On their website, Sun Land states that it works with Florida Export Finance Corporation and US Export-Import Bank. The company describes itself as providing financing, project management and development expertise for infrastructure development.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
The PRD says that the money was for projects that were represented by Bautista's office and the Sun Land Corporation. As reported in Diario Libre, the debt would be used for the construction of works for the UASD university and other public works deemed priority by the OISOE office.
In the press conference, the PRD reminded the press that the Sun Land Corporation was the same company that was the intermediary for a US$132 million loan that was intended to provide equipment for the National Police, but was rejected by Congress because of the scandals surrounding that deal when it was ascertained that several items were significantly overvalued.
The PRD is claiming that no one knows what has been done with the funds and says that not even the IMF knew about the loan. The PRD is claiming that the PLD's unwillingness to sign a new IMF agreement is because of their plans to take out more loans.
Hoy newspaper reports today that a letter from The Sun Land Corporation RD, S.A. addressed to Treasury Minister Vicente Bengoa Albizu, states, that "regarding your request for an explanation about the copy of notification of the pending debt with HSBC, Panama, we hereby make it known that the disbursement carried out by this bank was to our company and thus the Dominican government has not contracted a financial commitment with this bank and the payments of the quotas have been carried out by our company."
On their website, Sun Land states that it works with Florida Export Finance Corporation and US Export-Import Bank. The company describes itself as providing financing, project management and development expertise for infrastructure development.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)