A prominent former banker was convicted on Sunday in a US$2.2 billion fraud case that drove the Caribbean nation into an economic tailspin four years ago.

Ramon Baez Figueroa, former president of Banco Intercontinental SA, was the first official convicted in connection with its collapse in May 2003, when it was the third-largest bank in the Dominican Republic.

Massive capital flight

The spectacular meltdown of the bank, known as Baninter, sent the Dominican peso into a free fall and triggered massive capital flight.

It was prompted, as detailed at length in the trial before a three-judge panel that opened in April 2006, by a scandal involving debt writeoffs and sweetheart loans or other financial deals suspected of having favoured leading politicians and others.

Sentenced

Baez Figueroa, who maintained his innocence, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution and damages totalling more than US$31 million.

His defence attorneys said they would appeal.

Another suspected mastermind of the Baninter fraud, financier Luis Alvarez Renta, was also convicted and sentenced like Baez Figueroa to 10 years in prison.

Charges against two other defendants in the case, including a former Baninter vice-president, were dismissed for lack of evidence.