President Luis Abinader appointed Duarte Méndez Peña as interim director of the State Land Titling Technical Executing Unit (UTECT). He replaces Mérido Torres, who has requested a leave of absence after he was repeatedly mentioned as part of irregularities by witnesses in the Operation Squid (Operación Calamar) government corruption case. Torres presented his leave of absence after the director of the Abinader administration department of ethics, former Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch said that he should already have done so in order to clear his name in the investigation.
The Presidency issued Decree 159-23 with the appointment of Duarte Méndez Peña.
Torres is questioned for his participation in state expropriation cases. Although he does not appear as a defendant, Torres is mentioned in the document issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, for allegedly having received from former Minister of Hacienda Donald Guerrero, a payment of RD$32,065,992 for a land expropriation in which he acted as a lawyer.
However, Torres assured that his participation in the expropriation case was merely as a professional lawyer. He denied abuse of power in the institution he headed.
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Presidency
UTECT
Hoy
17 April 2023