NewsWhore
02-14-2008, 02:51 PM
Education Minister Alejandrina German is giving investigative journalist Nuria Piera 72 hours to retract a story claiming that the minister owns a luxurious summer home in Junumuco, Jarabacoa and used public funds to build it. The story, which aired on two consecutive Saturdays this month on Nuria's Channel 9 TV investigative journalism show, contrasted the conditions of the local public school with the luxury of the minister's alleged mansion. While German has been adamant in stating that the claims are "garbage", she has assembled a team of lawyers to fight Piera in court. She is quoted in Hoy as saying that the report is an attack on her family and her morals. During a press conference, and flanked by her deputy ministers, German explained that the land in question was purchased by her husband, PLD Deputy Jose Maria Sosa Vasquez, at a cost of RD$1,500 per tarea. She added that construction began in 2002 and required her husband to take out a loan with the Chamber of Deputies for RD$1.3 million. The juicy twist in this saga is that German has offered to sell the house to Piera for RD$6 million so that Piera could eventually sell the house for the RD$40 million she claimed the journalist said the house was worth. German took a full-page advertisement in Hoy to explain her position, stating that the house is registered as worth RD$5 million in her husband's declaration of assets.
Piera, quoted in Hoy, responded by saying that she never made the outlandish claims that German is accusing her of and that it is German who needs to make a retraction. She denied saying that the house was worth more than RD$40 million or that it was built with state funds. "I have only established that the house is expensive and her statement says she has assets for RD$5 million and she needs to explain the vast difference between the construction of the house and her statement of assets," Nuria Piera said, as reported in Listin Diario.
Nuria Piera's report is one of a series on luxury homes of government officials, and follows on the heels of the PLD campaign manager, Francisco Javier Garcia accusing PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado of owning a RD$800 million mansion in Casa de Campo.
She has aired the issue on both her Channel 9 TV program and in the CDN 5-7pm radio talk show with Huchi Lora on 92.5FM.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Piera, quoted in Hoy, responded by saying that she never made the outlandish claims that German is accusing her of and that it is German who needs to make a retraction. She denied saying that the house was worth more than RD$40 million or that it was built with state funds. "I have only established that the house is expensive and her statement says she has assets for RD$5 million and she needs to explain the vast difference between the construction of the house and her statement of assets," Nuria Piera said, as reported in Listin Diario.
Nuria Piera's report is one of a series on luxury homes of government officials, and follows on the heels of the PLD campaign manager, Francisco Javier Garcia accusing PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado of owning a RD$800 million mansion in Casa de Campo.
She has aired the issue on both her Channel 9 TV program and in the CDN 5-7pm radio talk show with Huchi Lora on 92.5FM.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)