The Public Ministry created a National Prosecutor’s Office with jurisdiction over Corruption in the Palace of Justice in Caracas, to investigate alleged irregularities committed by judges, said sources from the judicial system.
One of the facts to be investigated is the freedom granted on August 26 to five prisoners, by Judge Alirio Domingo Alayón, who was a substitute in the 38th Court of Control in Caracas.
The defendants were held in the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Bolivarian National Police located in La Yaguara, Libertador municipality, Caracas.
In this sense, the Prosecutor’s Office investigates the police officers who were on duty that August 26, when they materialized the release of the five defendants. Apparently, the uniformed officers skipped the protocol and released the five without the proper release ticket issued by the court and signed by the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Caracas, the source explained. “They were released only with an official letter,” explained the informant. “The uniformed men recognized that they should not have given freedom only with the job,” the source said.
The five freedoms were approved the same day that the Public Ministry requested, via accusation, the prosecution of these people.
The matter becomes more irregular when the police officials telephoned a lawyer who no longer worked in the Criminal Judicial Circuit and she told them to release the five defendants, who are being prosecuted for the crime of aggravated robbery.
Upon learning of such a situation, the authorities of the Caracas Criminal Judicial Circuit reported the incident to the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim).
Judge Garrido
In another fact, the Judicial Commission of the Supreme Court of Justice removed Judge Luisa René Garrido, who was in charge of two courts: 52º of Control and 3º Antiterrorist of Caracas, according to resolution.
The decision of the Judicial Commission occurred on August 15, five days after Garrido agreed to appoint an Ad-hoc board in the company ICM Proyectos 2021, an allied company of the state-owned Petropiar.
Garrido agreed to this ad-hoc meeting at the request of a plaintiff, who is allegedly a partner of Carlos Vechio, self-styled “ambassador” of Venezuela to the United States.
After Garrido signed that decision, he took a five-day break. Judge José Márquez, who temporarily replaced her in the 3rd Antiterrorist Court, revoked the Ad-hoc meeting at the request of the partners of the ICM company, who argued that such a decision kept the company paralyzed. Parallel to this, the Prosecutor’s Office requested the file of that case, to continue the investigations.
