Chief Justice plays down US$2.0M bribe scandal

Santo Domingo.- Supreme Court chief justice Mariano German on Sunday called National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso’s accusation that judge Margarita Cristo received US$2.0 million from a convicted drug trafficker an “impasse,” and urged the Justice Ministry to treat judges to with respect.

He said the judges’ interest is to represent the ethical values of Justice, to generate confidence among the citizenship.

German’s statement comes the aftermath of the scandal unleashed by Reynoso’s accusation that Cristo received the bribe, during a preliminary hearing in the embezzlement and money laundering case against former Public Works minister Víctor Díaz Rúa, a close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez, where

He said it’s time for Reynoso and Cristo to discuss and handle their difficulties in a peaceful, quiet and professional manner to resolve the showdown he affirms is explained “only by the misguided and foolish way (sectors) use it to try divide the actors of the Judiciary.”