AIDS Institute trial press 05/14/99
Kouri trial 05/14/99
Second article
Witness, for Kouri defense fumbles over testimony
By MARTY GERARD DELFIN
Of the STAR Staff
A witness who traveled from the Dominican Republic to help Yamil Kouri defense justify a $240,000 contract fumbled over his testimony Thursday as he said he couldn't remember key dates, places and names.
Dr. Joaquin Perez Mendez, who was head of Medservices, couldn't answer many of the questions by assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Dominguez about the contract he held with Advanced Community Health Services, which oversaw the San Juan AIDS Institute.
Perez Mendez was paid for a study on the sexual behavior of Puerto Ricans traveling to the Dominican Republic.
Prosecutors claim that Medservices was set up by Kouri to launder federal money. Several government witnesses have testified that the data produced from the study was not only useless but questionable.
Perez Mendez was brought to San Juan after defense lawyers reportedly got assurance from the government that their witness won't be charged in the alleged embezzlement scheme.
Kouri, former operations manager Jeannette Sotomayor and former property custodian Armando Borel are on trial for allegedly embezzling $1.4 million.
The defense theorizes the money was taken by former comptroller Angel Corcino Mauras, his son and his brother.
Nervous and unsure of his answers, Perez Mendez explained on the stand that $240,000 was not enough to conduct a study in five Dominican cities. He said that he was in debt after ACHS canceled the contract for the second part of the investigation, which was to focus on the sexual behavior of Dominicans visiting Puerto Rico.
When asked by Dominguez where Medservices held its offices, the witness acknowledged that he ran the consulting firm "from a desk" at his home. According to him, 18 investigators helped compile the study.
However, Perez Mendez couldn't remember whether he signed the contract with ACHS in San Juan or Santo Domingo or when the preliminary studies were completed.
He was asked why he chose to open a bank account at Southern Bank & Trust on the island of Montserrat. Perez Mendez testified that at the time it was illegal for Dominicans to hold dollar accounts in his country so he went to Hamilton Bank in Miami which served as an agent for the offshore bank. But he couldn't remember who introduced him to Hamilton or who helped him open the offshore account.
Prosecutors claim that Kouri conducted a complex money laundering scheme using both banks and ghost companies.
Southern Bank & Trust was used by a Mexican company that also held a fat contract with ACHS.
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