On Wednesday morning, Kenya Romero, the judge of Permanent Attention in the National District, commenced a hearing to consider a request for a measure of coercion against the defendants in a case involving alleged administrative corruption. This is the third time that the court has addressed the request, as the parties involved have requested additional time to review documents related to the case, including new complaints that have been added.
The 20 individuals subject to the measure were arrested on March 19 as part of “Operation Squid,” a crackdown on corruption in the Ministry of Finance during the administration of former Dominican President Danilo Medina. The Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) has accused the group of participating in a corruption scheme that embezzled over 19 billion pesos from the Dominican State.
The arrested individuals include former Minister of Finance 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, economist Ángel Lockward, and former directors of Casinos and Gambling Oscar Chalas Guerrero and Julián Omar Fernández.
Also among those arrested are Roberto Santiago Moquete, Agustín Mejía Ávila, Emir Fernández de Paola, Marcial Reyes, Alejandro Constanzo, Yahaira Brito Encarnación, Ana Linda Fernández, Aldo Antonio Gerbasi, Ramón David Hernández, Víctor Matías Encarnación, and Rafael Parmenio Rodríguez Encarnación.
The defendants are charged with a range of crimes, including a coalition of officials, false public and private deeds, prevarication, and embezzlement, as well as bribery or bribery of officials, intervention in matters incompatible with the quality of official, illicit enrichment, an association of criminals, aggravated fraud to the detriment of the Dominican State, lack of affidavit, and money laundering.