Former Minister of Hacienda Donald Guerrero, former Minister Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta and former Minister of Public Works and Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) presidential candidate in 2020, Gonzalo Castillo were arrested and are now at the Palacio de Justicia of Ciudad Nueva awaiting pre-trial custody measures.
The investigation has been ongoing for years. The preliminary indictment of the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the defendants is for the association of criminals, embezzlement, a coalition of officials, falsification of public and private documents, bribery and illicit campaign financing on an unprecedented scale, and money laundering, among others.
The Public Prosecutors Office says that the corruption scheme dismantled distracted taxpayers more than RD$19 billion and affected institutions such as the Ministry of Hacienda, the Comptroller General of the Republic, the State Sugar Council (CEA), the National Assets Agency, the General Directorate of National Cadastre and the Office of State Supervisory Engineers of the Presidency (Oisoe), among others.
The Anti-Fraud Unit of the Comptroller General’s Office accuses Donald Guerrero and other persons, in an alleged corruption scheme that through the expropriation of lands, would have embezzled more than RD$19,000 million from the Dominican state. Last year, CDN TV investigative journalist Julissa Cespedes had aired several reports on the irregular operations at the Ministry of Hacienda, reportedly based on files received from a source at the Public Prosecution Office.
Former Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo is investigated for the contracting without bidding of 38 companies for the purchase of asphalt concrete for an amount of RD$11.5 billion. The accusations were presented in mid 2019 by journalists Marino Zapete, Alicia Ortega and Edith Febles, but the Medina administration ignored the evidence at the time. In 2019, Gonzalo Castillo was chosen presidential candidate for the then ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). Instead, Castillo would sue Zapete for defamation. After the PLD lost the presidential election in 2020, Castillo removed the defamation suit.
The three had been at the Attorney General Office to sit for questioning regarding their previous positions in government on the previous Friday and Saturday, N Digital reports. The arrests occurred on Saturday and early Sunday morning, closer to midnight. Together with the three-high ranking Medina administration officials, 11 others were arrested on Sunday, the Attorney General Office reported.
Many have questioned the Public Prosecutors Office modus operandi noting there has been lots of circus and little consequences for impunity in the past and present prosecution efforts. Diario Libre editorial of 20 March 2023 questions the hour of the arrests on Saturday and Sunday and the house searches, pressing the point that since the investigations had years ongoing, it was very unlikely any evidence would be kept at the homes. The former ministers had also attended questioning of the authorities as summoned in the past.
Meanwhile, N Digital reported that former President Danilo Medina traveled to New York City on a private flight with close collaborators. The former President left on a private flight through the Isabela International Airport to New York on Thursday, 17 March 2023. N Digital was told the trip is for a medical condition follow-up. Medina’s departure was a day before the most recent interrogation of his high-ranking officials and his choice for presidential candidate of the then-ruling party in the 2020 election and the eventual late night arrests.
The 14 individuals linked to the case were subject to around 40 raids, which leads to the presumption that others are linked to Operation Squid (Operación Calamar).
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Attorney General Office (PGR) reported on 19 March that on Saturday night, 18 March 2023, Operation Squid began, after a complex investigation carried out by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca).
The operation involved around 40 raids distributed in the National District, Santo Domingo province, San Pedro de Macoris and La Romana, with the participation of 40 prosecutors, dozens of investigators, 300 members of the National Police and a large administrative support team.
Among those arrested to be presented for coercive measures are: former Hacienda Minister Donald Guerrero; former Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ramón Peralta; former Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo; former Comptroller General of the Republic, Daniel Omar Caamaño; former director of the State Sugar Council (CEA), Luis Miguel Piccirilo; former director of the National Cadastre, Claudio Silver Peña, and former directors of Casinos and Gaming, Oscar Chalas Guerrero and Julián Omar Fernández.
Also arrested are Roberto Santiago Moquete, Agustín Mejía Ávila, Emil Dávila Fernández, Marcial Reyes, Alejandro Constanzo, Yahaira Brito Encarnación and Ana Linda Fernández.
PRSC lawyer Angel Lockward was also arrested on Sunday, 19 March 2023 as part of the Operation Squid. He is tied to the investigation of payments for public debt for expropriation and simulation of purchase and sale of state land, a file in which former Hacienda Minister Donald Guerrero appears as the main defendant.
Corrupción al Desnudo, an online platform, was the first to release the news of the arrests that circulated before the larger news operations carried the stories.
Read more in Spanish:
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Attorney General Office
N Digital
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Corrupción al Desnudo
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Hoy
Edith Febles
20 March 2023