Five years in prison for former Dominican minister for Odebrecht case

A former minister Dominican He was sentenced this Thursday to five years in prison for his links to the scandal of payments of more than 92 million dollars in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to award works in the country.

Víctor Díaz Rúa, minister between 2007 and 2012 in the government of President Leonel Fernández, was sentenced by a three-judge court that found him guilty of money laundering from illicit enrichment.

The same court sentenced eight years from prison to businessman Ángel Rondón, accused of distributing bribes to Dominican legislators and officials while he was a commercial representative of Odebrecht.

Two senators, the former director of the state water company and a lawyer accused of being Diaz’s accomplice were acquitted.

The sentence, which is appealable, includes the payment of a fine for each of the convicted of about $ 35,000 and the forfeiture of property.

Considered one of the largest corruption cases in the recent history of the country, it involves members of the two main political parties: the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), in power since August 2020, and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). ), who ruled between 2004 and 2020.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the works, including roads, aqueducts and hydroelectric plants, were contracted between 2002 and 2012.

In 2017, Odebrecht signed an agreement with the Dominican Prosecutor’s Office and promised to pay 184 million dollars as compensation, as well as provide information required by the Dominican authorities for identify those involved.

In return, the Prosecutor’s Office agreed not to prosecute the firm or its directors.

In October 2020, the government ordered the suspension of all contracts with the company, as well as with related companies.

The Brazilian firm’s bribery network splashed across several Latin American countries.

The Dominican Republic, which ranks 137 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, is the third nation in which Odebrecht paid more bribes for the allocation of public works between 2001 and 2014, behind Brazil and Venezuela.

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