The childhood friend accused of fatally shooting the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources this week allegedly did so because he was denied environmental permits he was seeking on behalf of various companies, according to judicial documents obtained Wednesday.
One of the permits that slain former minister Orlando Jorge had denied had been submitted by his longtime friend and now suspect, Fausto Miguel de Jesús Cruz de la Mota, who served as intermediary between the companies and the ministry. That particular permit involved a request to export 5,000 tons (4,500 metric tons) of used batteries, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press.
