Submitted by Gerald Baker
Dear Mr Commisong;
You were responsible for calling my attention to the fact that my country’s PM bestowed the Order of Excellence on Danilo Medina Sánchez in Novenber of 2017. I thank you for that – I am still attempting to find out which Neandertal advised him and if Mr. Holness follows world events at all see article – An Open Letter to the People of Jamaica on the Disgraceful Award of a National Honour to the President of the Dominican Republic.
It is with a great deal of disappointment that I relay to you yet another in a growing list of “hard luck” narratives involving business practices in the Dominican Republic – particularly where foreign nationals are involved. Please consider using this, whole or in part to warn any who would consider investing, setting up shop or retiring to the DR.
In 2011 I took an assignment here in the country as a security project manager with Barrick Gold Corp. At the end of a year I decided to settle here. I bought a ranch that had a failing horseback tour business. I was interested in the farm not the horses but having purchased both I made a go of it and within three months began to see improvement in the numbers of repeat guests coming to the ranch. This is right about when things took a rather unpleasant turn.
The previous owner Michel Francois Godin Forget (a French Canadian Natiional who has been living here for twenty + years), fraudulently applied for and obtained a replacement title which invalidated the one I held by contract. He then applied for and received a bank loan. In order to do this he needed the cooperation of a corrupt banker and my attorney Eric Franco, who simply did not register the sale of the property against the title.
A more detailed narrative of how this Kafkaesque nightmare developed is available for review here: https://www.opentrial.info/index.php?title=Gerald_Baker
The story outlined on the OpenTrial website is a true story…it happened to me and it spells out how Mr. Godin unleashed the full might of the corrupt Dominican legal system against me. He did so in retribution because I stood against him and refused to pay extortion to his criminal cronies.
This sort of thing has for too long, gone unaddressed, unpunished, perhaps quietly encouraged here and elsewhere in the Caribbean and thus the criminals have become emboldened. Two individuals, one known to me, have lost triple figure millions due to fraud and corruption in this country.
I would like to now know if there is anyone who can advise me of what are my options to seeking redress of this issue? Clearly my business and all my earthly belongings were expropriated without cause, I was grievously injured by the police and my livelihood completely destroyed.
Specifically, I am asking if would you be kind enough to guide me to, or refer me to someone who could inform or help me through my next steps?
What mechanisms are in place to warn the traveling public – how can I inform investors that their hard earned money should not be spent here supporting this level of corruption and naked aggression against foreigners who bring in much needed investment capital?
I will file a formal complaint as soon as I can obtain instructions on how/where this is done.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your time and kind consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Gerald Baker
(829-786-2468 Whatsapp#)
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