SANTO DOMINGO- Vice President Raquel Peña announced on Monday the formation of a technical committee to address real estate fraud cases.
This initiative is being implemented after complaints about non-compliance and irregularities in housing projects have emerged in recent days.
Peña stated that, under the instruction of President Luis Abinader, the Dominican government will not allow these criminal acts to occur.
“We are not going to continue allowing these kinds of misdeeds,” the vice president stressed.
Complaints
Several complaints have been filed by people accusing Emmanuel Rivera Ledesma, an alleged architect or engineer, of a multi-million dollar fraud in a real estate project that he himself heads.
The scams range from undelivered apartments and homes oversold to more than ten people to illegal construction, among others, according to an investigation carried out by "Nuria Investigación Periodística".
The investigative program shows videos of Rivera's luxuries, including a house whose carport houses about 5 vehicles ranging from a Hyundai SUV to Mercedes Benz, BMW and Lincoln Navigator.
Prices range from 2.8 to 4 million pesos for apartments in housing complexes supposedly being built by IndisArq. There are also allegations that IndisArq sold a single apartment to more than ten people.
One case is that of Abraham Báez, one of the seven people who have filed a formal complaint against the businessman, who has paid 3 million pesos of the 4 million 300 thousand agreed for the sale of an apartment, which has not been delivered by IndisArq.
Another of the complainants is Fernando Torres, who has already given 2.8 million pesos to the company of Emmanuel Rivera Ledesma and his ex-wife, María Consuelo Sabina Pichardo, the investigation specifies.
However, Jean Cristofer Pérez, the lawyer for the seven plaintiffs, says that there are cases that amount to $120,000, one of $42,000, others of $14,000 and $16,000.
What is IndisArq?
IndisArq presents itself on its website as “a company with a solid track record of more than three decades in the real estate sector.” However, its business registration was issued just 8 years ago, in August 2015, with a corporate purpose ranging from the export of heavy metals and the manufacture of doors to the development of real estate projects, and with its address at its former home in the José Contreras Residential complex.
“It raises suspicions that a company so new to the market has the capacity to promote such large-scale projects at such a high cost as this Construction SRL is doing,” said lawyer Pérez to N Investiga.
This refers to the 6 projects promoted on the company's social media and website and sold, from October 2020 to date, with prices ranging from $85,000 to $690,000.
