Santo Domingo.- National District Senator and general secretary of the ruling PLD party Reinaldo Pared Pérez has admitted to the purchase of an apartment from drug-trafficker Luis David Ulloa, as recorded in a cable from then-US ambassador to the Dominican Republic Hans Hertell and revealed by the Wikileaks site earlier this week.

Nonetheless, the high-ranking PLD member says he had made the commercial transaction without knowing that Ulloa was a criminal, and maintained that all was made clear at the time, and this is why he has kept his US visa in his diplomatic passport, due to his status as senator, as well as in his private passport.

Meanwhile, opposition PRD deputy Víctor Gómez Casanova admitted that when he was general secretary of the PRSC party he bought an apartment from the same drug traffickers, who were subsequently extradited to the United States.

Echoing the words of Pared Pérez, Gómez Casanova claimed he was not aware that the Ulloa brothers were involved in criminal activities. The legislator was speaking at the Chamber of Deputies after being questioned by journalists.

Pared Pérez also made a written statement, reiterating that due to his upbringing he would never become involved with anyone from the criminal world.

“When I bought this apartment from the DAPS CxA construction company nobody told me who the owner of the building was, because there was no sign identifying its owner”, said Pared.

The Wikileaks transcript also mentioned that the Attorney General at the time, Francisco Domínguez Brito, told ambassador Hans Hertell that “many high-ranking military officials in the (Hipólito) Mejía administration, such as former Army Chief general Jorge Radhames Zorrilla Ozuna, had received money from Quirino’s gang and from other drug traffickers”.