The hearing for preventive trial measures against the three cabinet ministers of the Danilo Medina administration and others was postponed for Sunday, 27 March 2023. The document of around 2,000 pages was delivered on Monday and now needs to be reviewed by the defense lawyers. The ministers are former Hacienda Minister Donald Guerrero, former Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta and former Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo.
Adjunct Attorney General, prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso has said the findings and evidence included in the file are “unprecedented.” She called for the case to be declared complex to give 18 months for the investigations to advance. The irregularities are under investigation since the appointment of Attorney General Miriam German, and prosecutors Yeni Berenice Reynoso and Wilson Camacho to the Attorney General Office with the change of government in August 2020.
There are 65 witnesses mentioned in the Operation Squid. The case is tied to past corruption cases already under investigation or that have concluded in the judiciary, including the Odebrecht corruption case and the Anti-Pulpo case, which presents charges for corruption against Juan Alexis Medina Sanchez, brother of former President Danilo Medina.
Lead witnesses include state contractors Ramon Emilio Jimenez Collie (Mimilo) and Bolívar Ventura, Fernando Crisóstomo, former director of the Supervisory Office of Public Works of the Presidency, Francisco Pagan, and former employees of the Ministry of Hacienda, Banreservas governmental bank and other government entities.
In a TV talk show presentation, TV host Mariasela Alvarez (Esta Noche con Mariasela) stressed that “this is not a political scheme” as politicians from the PLD have argued.
Spokespeople for the PLD have said that the government is using the case to gain votes for the reelection of President Luis Abinader in the May 2024 election. The presidential primaries are set for October 2023.
In her comments leading the debates on her program, Alvarez concluded the situation is difficult both for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and the former ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). She highlighted for the volume of cash that was being transported in suitcases reportedly purchased at Plaza Lama for this purpose, “we are talking about something very serious.”
The Public Prosecution Office is requesting the judge hearing preventive trial measures authorize preventive custody for 18 months and declare the case complex.
The Public Prosecution Office requests preventive custody to guarantee the expediting of the case. The prosecution argues that in white collar cases, the accused are known to use technical defense tactics to delay the process and seek its extinction and this is facilitated when the accused are sent to domiciliary arrest or allowed to present bail.
The Public Prosecutors Office file in the Squid Operation case says that the accused in the government corruption case operated in the full exercise of public functions and had a disastrous impact on different sectors of the economy since their criminal actions were directed to obtain substantial resources to evade justice, finance political campaigns and acquire substantial properties and vast fortunes to evade justice and facilities to leave the country or remain hidden at any stage, while destroying evidence, intimidating witnesses, and stealing assets.
The Public Prosecutor Office says the distracted funds account for RD$18 billion so far, that is about 28% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2020. Most of the resources under investigation were said to have been irregularly obtained during the pre-electoral year 2019 and during the 2020 electoral year and peak Covid-19 pandemic year.
The Public Prosecutor Office says that all employees of the Ministry of Hacienda were ordered to go to work during the Covid-19 pandemic when most of the government was shut down.
The Prosecution file establishes that it has obtained evidence of the corrupt acts in checks, copies of bank transfers, approvals of bank credit, information from the Tax Agency (DGII) and Superintendence of Banks, Central Electoral Board (JCE), Budget Office, National Controller Office, National Cadastre, among other government entities.
Follow the case:
El Dia
Diario Libre
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Somos Pueblo TV
El Caribe
Esta Noche con Mariasela
Esta Noche con Mariasela
DR1 News
22 March 2023