“While it is true that Mac Construcciones was responsible for the construction of the project's wastewater treatment plant, the execution plans and their revisions were delivered to Mac Construcciones by PGR. It is important to note that the work was carried out according to these plans, under the supervision and approval of PGR.”.
SANTO DOMINGO- In a letter sent to the president of the Chamber of Accounts, Mac Construcciones attributes to the Attorney General's Office (PGR) the responsibility for the irregularities in the awarding and other anomalies that are imputed to it in the accusatory file of the Public Ministry, to carry out works in the Humanization Plan of the Penitentiary System of the Dominican Republic.
The report from the Court of Accounts established irregularities in the Award Act, under the understanding that "each tender should be composed of five members, however, the minutes that award the tenders were celebrated by four members, missing the person responsible for the Planning and Development Area.".
To this, Rocío Báez, legal manager of the company run by Lisandro José Macarrulla, charged in the Medusa case by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Fight Against Administrative Corruption (Pepca), responded that the responsibility for that lay with the Attorney General's Office of the Republic.
“We must keep in mind that the responsibility for observing the formalities that the Award Acts must comply with, as well as the other documents that are an integral part of a bidding process, falls entirely on the PGR, since the awarded contractors are not part of this process,” says the document sent on July 4 to Mr. Janel Andrés Ramírez Sánchez, president of the Chamber of Accounts.
Macarrulla is charged in the Medusa Network case, as is the company Mac Construcciones, which carried out work in Nueva Victoria. He is one of 41 individuals and 22 companies named in the indictment filed Saturday by the Attorney General's Office.
They also rejected the accusations of budget deficiencies and lack of basic studies, as established by the Court of Auditors on pages 60-68 of its report.
“While it is true that Mac Construcciones was responsible for the construction of the project's wastewater treatment plant, the execution plans and their revisions were delivered to Mac Construcciones by PGR. It is important to note that the work was carried out according to these plans, under the supervision and approval of PGR. Furthermore, we reiterate that the designs were executed entirely by PGR and under its sole responsibility, prior to the commencement of work by Mac Construcciones.”.
They also indicated that the deterioration in the works carried out by Mac Construcciones is due to the work stoppage and lack of maintenance.
“We understand that it is necessary to clarify that in the case of Lot 5, executed by Mac Construcciones, there is no custodian assigned to us, since our access to it has been suspended.”.
Minister of the Presidency requests leave
The Minister of the Presidency, Lisandro Macarrulla, announced last night that he has requested a leave of absence from his public service position from President Luis Abinader. He has held the position since the president took office on August 16, 2020.
The announcement was made days after the Public Prosecutor's Office linked one of his sons to the alleged administrative corruption case called Medusa, which, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, involves embezzlement from the State of more than RD$6 billion.
"In accordance with the powers established in the Public Service Law, I have requested a leave of absence from my position as Minister of the Presidency from the President of the Republic," the minister wrote on his Twitter account after 11:00 p.m.
Lisandro José Macarrulla Martínez, son of the Minister of the Presidency Lisandro Macarrulla, is among the 41 people who were accused by the Public Ministry in the alleged corruption scheme that was supposedly headed by former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez.
