SANTO DOMINGO.- The Environment Ministry (Semarena) warned that it’ll strictly enforce the laws 64-00 and 202-04 that protect and call for the sustainable use of the natural resources, and will prevent constructions, rentals or real estate operations in protected areas, and would challenge the Superior Land Court’s ruling regarding a land scandal in the National Park of the East.

Semarena’s statement come just days after the Superior Land Court’s ruling ordering the registry of 3.4 million square meters of land within National Park of the East, shared by La Altagracia and La Romana provinces. "The National System of Protected Areas (SINAP) is irreducible and its lands have imprescriptibly and are inalienable, as stipulated in sectorial Law 64-00 and articles 33 and 36, which state that protected areas are patrimony of the State, for which Semarena will be inflexible with its enforcement."

The Superior Land Court ruled to recognize the alleged ownership of 2,431,059 square meters by Daniel Antonio Minaya Rodriguez, and the companies Trubia S.A., and Tecnicas Electricas y Desarrollo Integral, as the noted in the awardees’ transaction.

Carlos Sanchez, indicted together with 60 others in the alleged fraud scheme in Spain known as the Marbella case, and Daniel Antonio Minaya, figure as owners of the companies awarded the lands, bought for US$19.9 million.