Citizen Participation requests in-depth investigation of Banreservas personnel for Operation Squid

Participación Ciudadana, a civic organization, has recommended a thorough investigation into Banreservas personnel involved in the Operación Calamar case’s structure. The organization highlighted that only one person from Banreservas appears in the request for coercive measures. The organization also stressed that the Banco de Reservas’ involvement in opening accounts for companies that received official payments, subsequently withdrawn in cash without reporting to the Financial Analysis Unit as suspicious operations, should lead to a comprehensive investigation of the personnel involved.

Citizen Participation’s considerations are contained in a book entitled “Document on the Measure of Coercion of the Public Ministry,” which offers useful information from the voluminous file. The UAF is the technical secretariat of the National Committee against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which reports to and is chaired by the Ministry of Finance. The organization further highlighted that Mr. Andrés Guerrero, the Bank’s controller, is the only person from Banreservas who appears in the request for coercive measures. However, the petition does not request any measure of coercion against him.

The Public Ministry accuses Andrés Guerrero of violating regulations and his status as an obligated subject to use the Banco de Reservas as a kind of “cash dispenser” in the structure of the Operación Calamar case. The network used important State institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, the General Comptroller of the Republic, the General Directorate of National Assets, the State Sugar Council, the General Directorate of National Cadastre, the General Directorate of Budget, and the Reserve Bank as operational spaces of the criminal structure created with the objective of defrauding and embezzling the Dominican State.