March 19, 2023, 10:28 PM
March 19, 2023, 10:28 PM
At least 19 collaborators of the former president of the Dominican Republic Danilo Medinaincluding three former ministers linked to a million-dollar embezzlement and money laundering, were arrested during a “complex operation” against corruption, the prosecutor’s office reported this Sunday.
The arrests are a result of the call “Operation Squid” launched “after a complex investigation carried out by the specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption,” the agency said in a statement.
“As a result of the operation, which included some 40 raids, So far there are 19 people under arrest who will be brought before the courts in the next few hours,” he added.
Among the former officials of the Medina government (2012-2020) who were arrested are donald guerreroformer Minister of Finance; Jose Ramon Peralta, former administrative minister of the presidency; and Gonzalo Castilloformer Minister of Public Works.
To them are added Daniel Omar Caamaño, former Comptroller General of the Republic; Luis Miguel Piccirilo, former director of the State Sugar Council (CEA); Claudio Silver Peña, former director of the National Cadastre; and Oscar Chalas Guerrero and Julián Omar Fernández, former directors of Casinos and Gambling.
The Public Ministry accuses them of “association of criminals, embezzlement, coalition of officials, falsification of public and private documents, bribery and illicit campaign financing on an unprecedented scale, money laundering, among others,” the statement added.
In the deployment, which began on Saturday night, raids were carried out in various cities in the Dominican Republic with the participation of some 400 officials from the Public Ministry and the Police.
The Dominican president, the social democrat Luis Abinader, promised before coming to power, in 2020, uA crusade against corruption denounced during the Medina administrationwho ruled the country in two periods between 2012 and 2020.
Since then, investigations have led to multiple arrests, including to two brothers from Medina, apprehended in November 2020 for alleged acts of corruption.
