Santo Domingo.- A NationalDistrict judge on Tuesday sent three men charged with extortion in the State WorksSupervisory Engineers Office (OISOE) to eight months of pretrial detention at LaVictoria prison.
The incarceration ofthe suspects is the latest in a series of scandals rocking president DaniloMedina´s three years in office, who when he first took office brushed aside suggestionsof waging a war on corruption during prior administrations by assuring that he “won´tthrow bricks at the past.”
Permanent attention judgeJose A. Vargas ruled that there´s sufficient evidence to incarcerate YoelSoriano, former OISOE official Alejandro de los Santos and the lawyer RafaelPerez Alejo, as requested by the Office of the Anticorruption Prosecutor (Pepca).
He also ruled for theprosecution´s motion to expand the investigation on the high number the allegedirregularities.
The judge ruled thatde los Santos had used State funds to extort contractors, and the September 25 suicideof engineer David Rodríguez at OISOE offices was the proof.
"It is commonknowledge that the contractors´ big problem is that their life is madeimpossible.”
The judge said what occurredto Rodriguez was the result of desperation, because he didn’t have the abilityto withstand pressure "when he called you thieves."