The defense of former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez is requesting that the Public Prosecutor’s Office include former Attorney General Office chief of staff Rafael Steffano Canó Sacco in the case. In the 12,000+ page file, Canó Sacco is mentioned on several occasions but the prosecutors do not include him among the 41 accused physical persons. The case looks into profiteering and major irregularities and corruption regarding operations at the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD) and the Attorney General Office when Rodríguez Sánchez was the head of these government entities from 2012 to 2020 under the two terms of former President Danilo Medina.
The Defense Council of the former Attorney General of the Republic Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez demanded on Monday, 25 July 2022 that the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) reveal the negotiations carried out with the former Chief of Staff, Rafael Steffano Canó Sacco, that have resulted in him not being included among the accused persons. At the time, Canó Sacco is in Spain.
“It is evident that Mr. Canó Sacco was excluded from the file in the face of an apparent negotiation, of which no details are available. Suppose the Public Prosecutor’s Office agreed to some type of negotiation involving monetary recovery and application of some type of penalty. In that case, it should be explained to the public in accordance with Art. 363 of the Penal Code, the defense maintains in a statement released after the Clerk’s Office of the Third Court of Instruction of the National District notified the parties of the indictment deposited by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Medusa case.
Attorney Gustavo Biaggi Pumarol affirmed that “it is surprising that, conveniently, Canó Sacco’s name is not listed when he is the man who has been pointed out as the author or accomplice of many of the accusations contained in the indictment.”
They pointed out that on the contrary, it is unusual that in more than 100 interrogations, real or not, the former chief of staff and president of the political movement Renovación, Rafael Canó Sacco, is directly accused of serious and grave crimes against the treasury, and to date, he does not appear as an accused.
They emphasized that from a preliminary reading of the voluminous file with the nearly 400 interrogations, there is no evidence that the former attorney general Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez has requested or accepted bribes or irregular payments for his benefit, which is the case in relation to the former chief of staff Rafael Steffano Cano Sacco and two businessmen.
They specified that “in a case of alleged administrative corruption, the person who reviewed and approved absolutely all actions and who coordinated absolutely everything related to the Renovación political movement, including all campaign contributions and payments to alleged Mexican advisors, is on the run and with a simple ‘it was not me,’ ‘it was him’, without any proof other than a crude testimony, is the basis for an accusation”.
“It is implausible that Rafael Canó Sacco does not appear in the indictment when there are hundreds of proofs that compromise him. Art. 65 of the Penal Code establishes very clearly that the crimes and offenses committed cannot be excused, nor can the penalty imposed by law be mitigated, except in the cases and circumstances in which the same law declares the excuse admissible, or authorizes the imposition of a less serious penalty,” says defense lawyer Carlos Balcácer.
He specified that in this file, there is evidence of serious accusations and an extensive work of the PEPCA, with people who say that they have been extorted, that they paid tolls, bribes and that resources of the institution were used for political purposes and all of them point out Rafael Canó Sacco in a clear and punctual way.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the country cannot believe that a fugitive from justice, presumed author of crimes and offenses, has the luxury that these facts remain unpunished and that the wrong people are accused,” they added.
At the same time, the defense lawyers demand that Canó Sacco be brought to the country to face justice like the other accused.
They anticipated that the former attorney general will prove the lawful origin of each and every one of his assets and that his sworn statement corresponds to reality.
The opening of the preliminary trial of the Medusa case has been set for 12 August 2022.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
El Caribe
26 July 2022