Hoy newspaper reports today that former Army captain, Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo (alias “El Don”) who was arrested for complicity in the trafficking of 1,387 kilos of cocaine, had been sworn in as a member of the PRD party when he was an active military member. The newspaper publishes a photo showing Paulino raising his hand in what Hoy newspaper describes as the actual swearing-in by Sergio Grullon, then Secretary of the Presidency, and Hipolito Mejia’s brother-in-law. Paulino was appointed chief of the PRD re-election campaign in Elias Pina, one of the few provinces in which Mejia took a majority in May’s election. “El Don” invested millions in Mejia’s political campaigning in the impoverished southern area of the country. Paulino’s induction as a PRD activist took place during a campaign event headed by Grullon.
In an interview with El Nacional, Sergio Grullon denied knowledge that Paulino was involved in drug smuggling matters. He said that he represented the President at the drug department meetings (DNCD) and says that the case of Paulino was never brought up. He said that the photograph is of a meeting with businessmen on occasion of a donation of RD$2.5 million made by Paulino for the reconstruction of a public school in Comendador, capital of Elias Pina province. Grullon also denied in the El Nacional interview knowledge that Paulino was a military, given that military cannot participate in politics.