Taken from Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO.-The process of selling the “Torre Integral” building to Banco de Reservas, and its subsequent lease to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MICM), has reached the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), where a complaint has been filed for tax fraud of 800 million pesos and a bribe of 4.6 million dollars against several former officials of the past government.
Those named in the complaint are the former Minister of Public Works, Manuel de Jesús Pérez Gómez (Freddy Pérez); the former Ministers of Industry and Commerce, Juan Temístocles Montás and Nelson Toca; José Manuel Guzmán Ibarra, Deputy Administrator of Government Businesses at Banco de Reservas; and the engineers Ramón Andújar Ramírez and Publio Silfa Valencia, partners of Freddy Pérez, who sold the property to Banco de Reservas.
The building was constructed by Diseño Integral SA, a now-defunct company owned by Pérez. The building was purchased by Banco de Reservas for $31 million and leased, with an option to buy, to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The complaint was filed on February 13 and addressed to Magistrate Wilson Camacho, Deputy Prosecutor and Director of the Pepca, for violation of articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Bribery Law; violation of articles 1, 2, 5, 14, 16 of Law 340-06 on Public Purchases and Contracting; articles 138, 139 and 146 of the Constitution of the Republic; articles 114, 115 and 116 of the Penal Code, and articles 291 and 308 of the Tax Code.
The lawsuit was filed by Ángel Moreta, represented by lawyers José Carela de la Rosa, Okensy Contreras Martes, Domingo Rojas Pereyra and Ramón Bonifacio Espinal.
The plaintiff's lawyers met, on February 1, with Magistrate Wilson Camacho, who reportedly stated "that wherever a single peso has been stolen from the people, the Pepca will act as it has always been its guiding principle.".
According to the complaint, a bribe was allegedly paid to officials and employees of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) of the office located in San Carlos, National District, in 2017, when the company Diseño Integral declared and paid the corresponding income tax that year.
The DGII is investigating the existence of "apparent acts related to bribery" of 37 million pesos, allegedly paid by the company to DGII employees, also in 2017, to facilitate the filing of taxes, according to the letter sent by Luis Valdez, director of the tax collection agency, to the plaintiff Ángel Moreta.
In the complaint filed with the PEPCA, the lawyers have requested that the Director of the DGII provide the names of the officials from that institution during Magín Díaz's administration who processed the taxes that generated the evasion.
They have also warned the Director of the DGII that he must refrain from investigating the bribery of DGII personnel, which officials and employees allegedly received, as it is the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor's Office, since it is a criminal offense.
Tax evasion
The complaint alleges that the company's partners supposedly received payments for profits obtained from the sale of the building and that these profits had not been properly declared to the tax authorities, which would be the reason for the tax fraud.
The Tax Obligation Determination Resolution GMPC No. 2892519 determined that Diseño Integral SA did not declare and pay the tax on the withholdings of the Income Tax, corresponding to the periods from January 1 to December 31, 2017.
The DGII ordered the payment of 30.1 million pesos for taxes; plus the sum of 73.9 million pesos for late payment surcharges; also 20.1 million pesos for compensatory interest, for a total of 124,235,146.68 pesos.
It was during the administration of Temístocles Montás that a lease agreement with an option to purchase the Ministry of Industry and Commerce building was signed with the Banco de Reservas for 31 million dollars, approximately 1,464,750,000.00 pesos; without a bidding process.
Currently, the MICM pays a monthly rent of more than 18 million pesos.
With resources from Banreservas
The company Diseño Integral SRL., owned by Freddy Pérez, built the “Torre Empresarial Integral” building with financing granted by the Banco de Reservas of 661,399,622.00 pesos, in the year 2013. Subsequently, at the request of the minister Temístocles Montás, in 2016 the State bank bought the property for 31,000,000.00 dollars, from which the loan was deducted and gave to the company Diseño Integral SRL. 500,000,000.00 pesos in three administrative checks, with the numbers 20753232, 20753233, 20753234, with amounts of 200,000,000.00 pesos; 100,000,000.00 pesos and 200,000,000.00 pesos, in the name of Ramón Andújar Ramírez, Pérez's partner.
Text and photo: Diario Libre.
