Martelly government denies accusations, saying they are part of a smear campaign to discredit the Haitian president
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Dominican prosecutors have launched a probe into allegations of corruption involving a local senator whose companies won tens of millions of dollars in construction contracts following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the Acento online national newspaper has reported.
Senator Felix Bautista, a close ally of Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, is accused of irregularities during the awarding of contracts for major construction projects in neighbouring Haiti, worth $350 million. He denies any wrongdoing and says he is collaborating fully with Dominican judicial authorities.
The investigation comes after Nuria Piera, a Dominican investigative journalist, said one of the senator’s construction companies, HADOM, had paid more than $2.5 million in kickbacks to Haiti's President Michel Martelly, both before and after he won the presidency last year.
To back up her claims, Piera has produced a detailed spreadsheet with specific bank cheque numbers and payment details, which allegedly shows companies owned by Senator Bautista making illegal payments. The document has been published in the local press.
The Martelly government has denied the accusations, saying they are part of a smear campaign to discredit the Haitian president.
In a press statement published in The Miami Herald, Haiti’s national palace said “it rejects categorically the allegations that the president of the republic, Mr. Michel Joseph Martelly, has been involved in any corruption case involving firms or individuals from the Dominican Republic.”
This is not the first time questions have been raised about the awarding of no-bid contracts to construction firms in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.
In February, Haiti’s then Prime Minister Garry Conille, who has since resigned from the post, announced plans to set up an audit committee to review multi-million-dollar contracts, including those awarded to Dominican companies.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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