Brazilian planes scandal links Dominican senator, ex-Air Force chief

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Justice Ministry officials will ask Brazil counterparts for information on alleged bribery in the nearly US$100 million deal for nine Super Tucano intercept planes, to identify the military and-or civilians linked to the scandal.

Quoting a Justice Ministry source, outlet elnacional.com.do reports that only Colonel Carlos Piccini Núñez has been mentioned thus far. The senior officer was Air Force projects director and former head of its Aerospace Dept.

Ant despite local reports that Piccini had been forced to retire, others affirm that he’s still on active duty.

According complaints filed in Brazil, Piccini is accused of taking a bribe of more than US$3.0 million from the purchase of the aircraft built by Embraer that cost the Dominican Government US$98.6 million in 2008, during the tenure of Maj. Gen. Rafael Peña Antonio in the Air Force.

The complaint says the purchase was overvalued, and that Piccini reportedly gave part of the money to a Senator to expedite approval of the loan in the Dominican Congress, adding that the senior officer had traveled to Brazil between 2009 and 2010to negotiate the deal with company executives.