AIDS Institute trial press 05/15/99
Kouri trial 05/15/99
Second article
Witness lacks records of bank transactions in institute trial
By MARTY GERARD DELFIN
Of the STAR Staff
Although he said he was paid $240,000 in 1991-93 from a contract with the San Juan AIDS Institute, Dr. Joaquin Perez Mendez testified Friday that he has no records showing that he actually received the money.
Perez Mendez, who ran Medservices from the Dominican Republic, also couldn't explain a $23,200 check deposited in his offshore bank account from a company he had never heard of
Vague in many areas of his testimony, Perez Mendez was called by the defense in the AIDS Institute embezzlement trial to justify a payment of $240,000 for a controversial sexual behavior study.
At times, he grew emotional.
"Because of my age and my family, I'm not here to defend any of the parties. I'm here to defend the work I did and the money I earned," Perez Mendez said.
He is the defense's 15th witness in the 40th day of the trial.
Former institute consultant Yamil Kouri, operations manager Jeannette Sotomayor and property custodian Armando Borel are all accused of helping embezzle $1.4 million in federal money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Dominguez questioned Perez Mendez why he couldn't give investigators, when they interviewed him in 1997, his bank records so he could prove the money went to him and not Kouri.
"It's very difficult for someone in Santo Domingo to retain those documents after three years," said the doctor.
The witness explained that the money was deposited in a Southern Bank & Trust account on the island of Montserrat, which he opened because it was illegal at the time for Dominicans to hold dollar accounts in his country.
Dominguez asked him about the coincidence between his Medservices account and one held by the Pan American Foundation run by Dr. Gloria Ornellas Hall which, judging by their account numbers, were opened one after another.
Perez Mendez said he had no explanation, adding that he didn't know that Ornellas Hall also had a contract with the AIDS Institute.
The government alleges that Kouri laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars through these two companies he set up, as well as Hamilton Bank in Miami, which served as the Montserrat bank's agent in the United States.
Dominguez confronted Perez Mendez with a 1991 check for $23,200 made out to Medservices from Laboratorios Especiales that was deposited into the SBT account. The witness said he never saw that or any other checks that were deposited into his account from the Advanced Community Health Services, the entity that ran the institute.
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