US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO4325

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 004325 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR (SEARBY/BENT), WHA/EPSC; DEPT PLEASE PASS 
TO SEC, FEDERAL RESERVE; TREASURY FOR WAFER; DOJ FOR OIA 
(MAZUREK AND ORJALES) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: DR, EFIN, KJUS, PGOV, PREL, Banking 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN BANKING #10: BANCREDITO CIVIL CASES SENT 
TO TRIAL 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 3864 
 
1. This is number 10 in a series of cables on consequences of 
the Dominican bank failures of 2003: 
 
Bancredito Civil Cases Sent to Trial 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
Nearly two years after the Dominican Central Bank first 
sought to arrest Manuel Arturo Pellerano for bank fraud, 
Reviewing Judge Pilar Rufino has bound over for criminal 
proceedings the Pellerano as President and several other 
officials  of the bank and holding company National Financial 
Group (GFN) for their alleged role in the fraudulent 
diversion of millions of dollars. 
 
The judge acted on six civil cases.  The Central Bank's case 
has been delayed, first by the removal for cause of Anixa 
Serra de la Mota, the first judge appointed, and later by the 
promotion of Judge Teofilo Andjura, which took the case out 
of his hands. Judge Rufino will now examine the Central 
Bank's case, against which defense lawyers have filed several 
motions. 
 
Individuals or firms that filed the cases allege the loss of 
varying firms.  For case 98-2005, the sum was USD 154,000; 
for case 99-2005, USD 600,0000; for case 100-2005, USD 
66,000; and for case 101-2005, USD 226,000.  The largest case 
102-2005 for more than USD 3 million, filed by a team of 
attorneys headed by former Santo Domingo district attorney 
Virgilio Bello rosa and accusing Pellerano's banking group of 
laundering money via loans to Pellerano-owned or -associated 
firms Telecable Tricom, Omnimedia, AFP Siembra, ARS Humano, 
Editorial AA, En el Punto Dominicana, Mundo Gas, Magna 
Compania de Seguros, Telecable Nacional, Transglobal de 
Seguros, Zona Franca San Isidro, Electricity Generating of 
Haina, Tricom Latinoamerica and others. 
 
Accused in the civil cases are Maximo and Manuel Arturo 
Pellerano, with additional charges leveled against Juan 
Felipe Mendoza Garcia, Rosangela Pellerano, Crusa Maria 
Fernandez Abreu, Marina Teresa Carrion de Garrigo, Jean 
Charles de Mondesert Grullon, Wilfredo Flores Santos, and 
Maribel Marmolejos. 
 
Attorneys for the Pelleranos and GFN attorneys have already 
begun an aggressive public attack against the charges 
arguing, inter alia:  1) that criminal liability for the 
alleged offenses is inappropriate under various articles of 
the Civil Code, 2) that Rufino lacked proper jurisdiction to 
forward the case to a criminal tribunal, and 3) the criminal 
charges are insufficiently detailed and individualized to be 
valid. 
 
For the first time, officers from all three of the banks 
involved in fraud and failures in 2003 now face cases that 
have emerged from the preliminary examination stages. 
Central Bank authorities tell us they are pleased with this 
progress and attribute the lengthy delay in the initiation of 
criminal prosecution simply to the complexity of the cases. 
 
-- Drafted by Michael Garuckis, Michael Meigs. 
 
2. This report and others in the series are available on the 
classified SIPRNET at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo.  
KUBISKE