SANTIAGO.- The First Instruction Court arraigned 11 eleven suspects accused of defrauding the U.S. Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service out of more than US$100 million, sending three of them to jail and the rest were released on bond.

Elvin Quiroz, Alfy Tavárez, Carlos Balbuena and Elvis Balbuena are being held in the case, which according to the joint investigation with FBI agents swindled US$100 million in cashed checks.

Whereas this year, the fraudulent requests for reimbursements corresponding to fiscal year 2008 surpassed US$70 million, but no checks were issued.

Justice minister Radhamés Jiménez and Santiago prosecutor Raul Martinez affirmed that several of the accused could be extradited.

Martinez said that everything will depend on the investigation’s results and on any request by the United States. He said foreigners who reside in Santiago are also being investigated in connection with the case.

The group of Dominicans is accused of filling numerous tax returns that were sent to the United States physically and through the Web.

Victor Bretón, the lawyer of several of the accused, said two of his clients are university students, who were allegedly paid weekly to fill the returns.

He said his clients were deceived by a person who is fugitive and who allegedly stole the identities through the Internet to commit the fraud.

Jiménez said it’s an international network with implications here, in Puerto Rico and the United States, whose authorities affirm that an important number of tax returns were fraudulently filed through the Web from Dominican Republic in 2008.