SANTO DOMINGO. - The Office of the Environment Prosecutor yesterday filed charges against the mayor of the city Baní (south), the president of the City Council, several of its members and the company Ciramar, for their part in the case of the Baní Dunes, and asked RD$45 million in fines.
Andrés Chalas asked the Peravia Judicial District Instruction judge to set the date for the arraignment after the Justice Ministry unsealed the indictment against the mayor Nelson Camilo, Yoham Montes de Oca, Carlos González, Salvador Peguero, Candida Carmen Medina, Juan Enrique Guerrero, Solange Catherine Pimentel, the businessmen Luis Eugenio Contreras, the company Ciramar Internacional Trading LTD and the Baní Municipal City Council.
The group is charged with renting with the right to purchase a portion of the lands in the protected area Serbio Felix Ducoudray Natural Monument, within Las Salinas de Bani, site of the Bani Dunes.
The indictment is the result of charges filed October 24, 2007, by the environmental groups Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment (Insaproma), Ecological World, Jaragua, Dominican Environmental Partnership, Baní Ecological Society and Ecological Group Tinglar.
The Justice Ministry asked fines of RD$45 million to repair the damages to the Dominican State.
