Two ex-ministers face a multimillionaire irregular handling court complain
Santo Domingo. – The non-partisan civic organization “Sed de Justicia” filed yesterday with the Attorney General’s Office a complaint against ex-ministers Gonzalo Castillo and Ramón Pepín, former heads of Public Works, for the alleged irregular handling of more than 19 billion pesos in the purchase of Hot Asphalt Concrete.
The complaint-lawsuit was filed by a committee of the Board of Directors of Sed de Justicia, headed by the financial businessman Franc Rosario and the lawyer Luis Aybar.
The organization accuses both officials of violating articles 166,167, 174,175, 176, and 361 of the Dominican Penal Code that contemplate and sanction the prevarication, concussion, for those officials who have been involved in matters incompatible with their quality and perjury.
According to the complaint, both Castillo and Pepín allegedly committed misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, and other criminal offenses in their functions when purchasing asphalt material for 19 billion pesos between April-September 2019 and January-March 2020.
It specifies that on January 24, 2019, the Ministry of Public Works received a warning by private bodies to refrain from continuing the process of awarding the purchase of this asphalt material without carrying out a competitive and public process under transparency schemes.
“Despite the claims of suspension of purchases made by almost all public opinion, and direct legal actions by interested parties, the aforementioned officials ignored the requirements of the law,” says the complaint-complaint.
The civic organization Sed de Justicia believes that the country must come out of the cancer of corruption “to guarantee new generations the enjoyment of a nation sustained by firm values of honesty and neatness in the management of public funds.”
