The people and companies that created financial schemes and led the operations that would have resulted in more than RD$19 billion in fraud against the Dominican state have been removed from the charges, El Dia reports. The charge presented by the Administrative Corruption Prosecution (Pepca) says that a large portion of the funds secured through the financial schemes were then used for the presidential campaign of former Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo in 2020.
El Dia reports that the prosecutors are not placing charges against Ramon Emilio Jimenez Collie, Bolivar Ventura, Fernando Crisostomo, Jose Arturo Ureña nor companies they may have used to commit the fraud against the Dominican state.
The state prosecutors preferred to release these from responsibility once they shared details on the operations so their bosses and contractors could be incriminated. The deadline of 29 April 2024 for prosecutors to file the charges has passed. Those charged and their lawyers now wait to be formally notified of the accusations once the court double checks the evidence presented by the prosecutors.
The prosecutors have presented evidence for charges against former Minister of Hacienda Donald Guerrero, former Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramón Peralta, and former Minister of Public Works and presidential candidate for the then ruling political party, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Gonzalo Castillo.
Others charged are former comptroller general Daniel Omar Caamaño, former senator Rafael Calderón, Luis Miguel Piccirilo, Claudio Peña Peña, Princesa García Medina, Antonio Gerbasi Fernandez, Angel Lockward, Alejandro Antonio Constanzo Sosa, Santiago Moquete, Ramon David Hernadez, Yahaira Brito Evangelista, Marcial Reyes, Ana Fernande, Emir Jose Fernandez, Oscar Arturo Chalas Guerrero, Julian Omar Fernández Figueroa, Rafael Parmenio, Omar Manuel (Miqui) Arias, Rosa Arias Ruiz, Edwin Oscar Brito Martínez, César Miguel Santana Martínez, Mabel Sahina Mejía Citrón, Nathaly Hernández Guzmán, Kimberly Zayas Martínez, Marino Enrique Cabrera Ramón, Natividad Martínez Capellán, Juan Tomás Polanco, Manuel Milcíades Morilla Gil, Manuel Milciades Morilla Soto, Agustín Mejía Ávila and Daniel Alberto Guerrero.
Companies accused include Miqui Trade, Sociedad Inmobiliaria el Algodonal, Britza Inversiones y Construcciones, Brimart Comercial BM, Bribae Dominicana, Fincas de Recreo Villa Mella, Inmobiliaria Santa Bárbara, Desarrollos Rurales, Ángel Lockward y Asociados, Fundación de Estudios Económicos y Políticos, Financiamiento de Papeles de Créditos and Intercaribe Mercantil.
El Dia reports the prosecutors ascertained that most of fraudulent financial schemes were carried out in the final months of the Danilo Medina administration, when the country was under the siege of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
9 May 2024