State prosecutors describe Operation Coral as the military arm of the corruption ring in the high echelons of the former Medina administration. Yet, the revelations tell much of the modus operandi of corruption in government.
Judge Kenya Romero is in charge of the hearing for the presentation of accusations by prosecutors and the declaration of whether there is a case or not and whether preventive custody measures are necessary to avoid the accused not being present for the actual trial. But as occurred during the previous Operation Octopus hearing, the court allowed the prosecutors and defense to turn the hearing into a pre-trial instead of a simple trial preparatory procedure. The videos on the pre-trial hearings are available on YouTube for whoever missed the presentations.
On Thursday, 6 May 2021, the head of the security of former President Danilo Medina, Major General Adan Caceres defended his actions. In contrast, army mayor and case insider Raul Girón Jiménez declared himself guilty and confirmed the details presented by the prosecutors in his almost hour-long statement. Girón Jiménez was in charge of payroll for two military institutions (Specialized Tourism Security Corps – Cestur and the Presidential Security Corps -Cusep) that are accused of major fraud against the state in the Operation Coral. He spoke of how millions were allegedly extracted from the payroll and distributed among the network members and the laundering mechanisms. He accused Police colonel Rafael Núñez de Aza as the financial mastermind of the operation. Girón gave the timeline of events and said that only he could clarify what had happened.
In the YouTube, the statements by Adan Caceres are 8:18 to 8:54 and those by Raul Girón Jimenez start at 8:57.
The case continues today at 2pm.
It is known that the director-general of the Police, Edward Sanchez announced that several Police have been suspended.
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Questioning at the Attorney General Office
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9 May 2021