Hearing in embezzlement case against ex Public Works chief suspended

Santo Domingo.- National District Instruction judge Leomar Cruz on Friday suspended a hearing in the money laundering and embezzlement case against former Public Works minister Víctor Díaz Rúa, a close collaborator of former president Leonel Fernandez.

The judge said he suspended the hearing until the Supreme Court hands down a ruling on a challenge filed by the organization Primero Justicia to his designation to head the proceeding against the former senior official.

The group challenged Cruz’s designation as acting judge to replace Margarita Cristo Cristo, who had recused herself from the case after she declared National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso in contempt of court. Reynoso alleged that Cristo took a bribe of US$2.0 million from a drug kingpin.

Following the suspension, Diaz Rúa’s lawyer Antonio Delgado called Primero Justicia’s challenge unfounded, since the criminal procedural code doesn’t allows the litigants to appeal the Instruction phase and predicted it would be struck down by the Supreme Court.