As journalists and citizens delved into the Medusa accusatory file, made available to the general public over the weekend, detail after detail of accusations of corruption in office are coming to the surface. The case that is unraveling for everyone to read and follow is the story of the influential government officer who resorted to his high school pals to orchestrate purchases and carry out projects marked by overpricing, non-deliveries, fraud and you name it to extort money from the state. Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez was named executive director of the CEI-RD today Pro Dominicana) from 2012 to 2016 and then Attorney General from 2016-2020 during the eight years of the Danilo Medina presidency.
As the investigators probed, the close friends and associates that accepted to be part of the major fraud to the state have talked, returned millions in illicitly acquired assets and put the blame on the methods to do business allegedly directed by the former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez. The defense of Rodríguez Sánchez has insisted the government doesn’t have evidence to incriminate the chief defendant, but story after story over the weekend presents dozens of persons who benefited from the scam and are now more than willing to tell on what was going on to reach deals with the prosecutors and be removed from the criminal accusations.
Among the collaborators of the Attorney General’s Office is Rafael Stefano Cano Sacco, who was the right hand of the former attorney general and chief of staff of the Attorney General’s Office. Cano Sacco is currently under arrest in Spain after leaving the country at the beginning of the investigations.
Enrique Ernesto Bonetti Galván, Paul Martín Hasbún Saladín and the engineer Antón Casasnovas were similar whistleblowers. Casanova revealed that Jean Alain Rodríguez had to be paid 20% of the works that were being carried out, and in cash.
More than 40 witnesses who collaborated with the investigation, according to the file, including testimonies of personnel of the Center for Export and Investment of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD) and of the Attorney General’s Office, where he had been the head in the period 2012-2016.
In addition to accusations of major corruption in the La Nueva Victoria Jail, the former attorney general is accused of working with his cronies on a network involving procurement for the public jails. Just in procurement for the prisoners’ food, Rodriguez Sanchez is accused of profiteering from RD$1.6 billion, through Rolando Rafael Sebelén Torres (alias Rafy), husband of his sister Ariadne Aimee Rodríguez Sánchez.
While most of the file focuses on Rodriguez Sanchez’s term at the Attorney General Office, there is also extensive accusations of fraudulent and irregular actions when he was first named to the CEI-RD when Danilo Medina took the Presidency in 2012. He is accused of wasteful spending and detouring funds to be used for political purposes.
Over the weekend, a letter circulated with the handwritten approval of former President Danilo Medina for the Jail Humanization Plan, the most extensive fraud mechanism investigated by the current prosecutors.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
Noticias SIN
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
El Dia
Listin Diario
Hoy
El Dia
El Dia
El Caribe
El Nuevo Diario
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
N Digital
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
El Caribe
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
11 July 2022