Banco international is a financial bank started in 1985 by Ramon Baez Romano, a wealthy businessman as well as industry minister (Figueira, 2016). Some years after its establishment, Banco international; which was then a small bank, was taken over by Romano’s oldest son Ramon Baez Figueroa, who aggressively helped to build it to become the second largest commercial bank in the Dominican Republic. In its growth, Baninter grew progressively, becoming a typical family owned and run conglomerate (Kashian & Drago, 2016). Within a decade or so after its beginning, Banco, which is also known as the Baninter bank, adopted robust diversification strategy that allowed it to acquire companies and firms that directly touched on nearly all aspects of
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This included buying the country’s former president Hipolito Mejia, as well as Leonardo Fernandez bulletproof Lexus sport utility vehicles (Kashian & Drago, 2016). All these expensive gifts would be paid off by the bank. The dishonesty of Figueroa was shown when he used his influence in the bank to award credit card vouchers to his friends, including the $2 million to Colonel Pepe Goico (Latinnews, 2018). Whereas such funds were meant to finance presidential trips for Goico, it was revealed that the money was instead used to make personal purchases including helicopters, as well as luxury housing and jewelry. This irrational issuance of funds to friends strained the bank, and by this, the bank began to …show more content…
The investigation revealed that over the course of time Figueroa and his close allies in the bank had been stealing from the depositors through modifying accounting books to hide their illegal dealings (Latinnews, 2018). It was discovered that about two-thirds of the money depositors had banked had been stolen by Figueroa and his senior officials (Smith, 2003). This massive theft was kept from the government as well as the public eye, using a custom-designed software system that helped keep these funds from being recorded in the official accounting
This included buying the country’s former president Hipolito Mejia, as well as Leonardo Fernandez bulletproof Lexus sport utility vehicles (Kashian & Drago, 2016). All these expensive gifts would be paid off by the bank. The dishonesty of Figueroa was shown when he used his influence in the bank to award credit card vouchers to his friends, including the $2 million to Colonel Pepe Goico (Latinnews, 2018). Whereas such funds were meant to finance presidential trips for Goico, it was revealed that the money was instead used to make personal purchases including helicopters, as well as luxury housing and jewelry. This irrational issuance of funds to friends strained the bank, and by this, the bank began to …show more content…
The investigation revealed that over the course of time Figueroa and his close allies in the bank had been stealing from the depositors through modifying accounting books to hide their illegal dealings (Latinnews, 2018). It was discovered that about two-thirds of the money depositors had banked had been stolen by Figueroa and his senior officials (Smith, 2003). This massive theft was kept from the government as well as the public eye, using a custom-designed software system that helped keep these funds from being recorded in the official accounting