Santo Domingo prosecutor: Judge ‘received’ US$2.0M from drug lord

Santo Domingo.- National District Instruction judge Margarita Cristo on Tuesday announced her withdrawal from the embezzlement case against former Public Works minister Víctor Díaz Rúa, and charged National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso with contempt of court, claiming she had been disrespected on her bench, including Reynoso accusing her of taking US$2.0 million from Puerto Rican kingpin Jose David Figueroa Agosto.

Cristo said she submitted her decision not to preside over Diaz Rua’s case through of Court of Appeals, on grounds that she was going to take legal action against Reynoso, on which her lawyer Carlos Balcácer filed the complaint , accusing her of violating the Penal Code, which penalize contempt against public officials.

The judge said during a hearing of Diaz Rua’s case on Friday, the Prosecutor challenged her, claiming that "the judge’s ruling was already made, that the judge telephoned a (woman) prosecutor to speak for a defendant of domestic violence who was later released, and that Instruction Court Coordinator judge Román then instructed her to hand down a favorable ruling, she (Reynoso) accused her of having received two million dollars in the case of Figueroa Agosto and that she repeatedly accused her of taking part in acts of corruption."