32 Dominican Senators Could be Interrogated as Corruption Probe Widens

Reinaldo Pared PĂ©rez, the President of the Dominican Senate, just recently petitioned the General Prosecutor of the Republic requesting an interrogation of the 32 senators responsible for approving the purchase of counterinsurgency aircraft linked to what is now a transnational corruption probe spanning from Brazil to Jordan to Wall Street.

Mr. Pared wants to get his story in first. SenadoRD
Mr. Pared told reporters outside the chambers of the senate that he should be the first one interrogated, since he was a senator when the purchase of the aircrafts was negotiated with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Embraer had "reached an agreement with U.S. and Brazilian authorities to settle an investigation into alleged bribes paid to foreign officials," guaranteeing that no officials in the South American nation will face prosecution in the United States.

After establishing diplomatic relations in the early 1900s, the Dominican Republic and Brazil rarely had contact at an official level, but this all changed in the early 2000s, and the political elite of the two countries are now often alleged to be walking in the same shadows of international corruption, with Joao Santana, a Brazilian known as "the maker of presidents," finding himself in the Dominican Republic managing President Medina's re-election when the Brazilian Federal Police sought him out in connection to the Odebrecht scandal that took down President Rousseff and threatens to destroy the legacy of former populist President Lula da Silva. 

The President of the Dominican Senate has been vocal in demanding that the prosecutor interrogate him and his colleagues because he doesn't fear that they will meet the same fate as politicians in Brazil. In much the same way that the Securities and Exchange Commission reached an agreement with Embraer, so will the Dominicans come to an agreement with each other.