Sting nabs Puerto Plata Assistant DA with bribe

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.- Justice minister Radhamés Jiménez yesterday ordered the arrest of Assistant prosecutor Miltria Vereniz Cruz, head of the office for Children and Adolescents, charged with extorting a businessman of the town Isabela.

Jiménez said he instructed Puerto Plata Court of Appeals prosecutor Felix Alvarez to start the legal process after Luis Manuel Diaz Corniel denounced the alleged extortion. “In the Justice Ministry there’s no space for the officials who incur in corruption and the ones who make a mistake, will have to face justice without contemplation.”

Diaz said Cruz demanded RD$60,000 to allow the club “Car Wash Jorge” to reopen, after it was shuttered Sunday for allegedly allowing minors. He said she then lowered the sum to RD$30,000, but handed her only RD$15,000 and promising the remaining RD$15,000 on the next day, Monday,.

He said he filed a complaint on Monday, and managed to postpone the bribe’s delivery for Tuesday afternoon (yesterday) to get a warrant to search her office, and to arrest her on the spot. Alvarez said they found Diaz’s RD$15,000 in Cruz’s office.