Santo Domingo.– The Ethical Behavior Committee of the Judiciary held a conversation with the magistrate Rigoberto Sena Ferrerasjudge of the Permanent Attention Court of the National District, who heard about the coercive measure in the case of National Health Insurance (Senasa), meeting from which an exhortation was derived addressed to all judges in the country on the need to act with prudence, moderation and strict adherence to ethical principles.
As reported by the Judiciary itself in a statement, the dialogue took place on December 19 at the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) and was chaired by the judge Nancy Salcedo Fernandeztogether with the magistrates Justiniano Montero Montero and María Garabito Ramírezmembers of the Ethical Behavior Committee.
He details that during the conversation, topics related to judicial ethics, respect for the values and principles of the Code of Ethical Behavior of the Judiciary, as well as the importance of moderation in jurisdictional actions and in the drafting of decisions, were addressed.
The Judiciary document does not specify whether Judge Sena Ferreras was caught by the sentence issued against those accused of embezzling state insurance, which ordered preventive detention for seven of the ten involved in the case, including the former director of Senasa, Santiago Hazimand while he released two women on bail and ordered house arrest for the businessman Eduardo Read Estrellathe largest beneficiary with 8 billion, of the huge Senasa fraud, which exceeds 15 billion pesos, after an alleged collaboration agreement with the Public Ministry.
The magistrate’s decision was questioned by society, considering that these types of decisions, although they are not convictions, send the wrong signal about the fight against corruption, since with a simple agreement with the Public Ministry, those who commit acts of corruption are left to divulge information about other people involved, return part of what was stolen and go unpunished.
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In this context, Judge Sena Ferreras reiterated his commitment to ethics, transparency and due process, underlining the need to exercise the judicial function with prudence and institutional responsibility.
Preventive and pedagogical call
As a result of that meeting, the Ethical Behavior Committee issued Resolution no. 001-2025, dated December 22, 2025, through which he formulated an ethical, preventive and pedagogical exhortation to all judges of the Dominican Judiciary.
The document urges that, in each action and when writing judicial decisions, judges strictly observe the values and principles contained in the Code of Ethical Behavior, as the foundation of public ethics, institutional legitimacy and citizen confidence in the administration of justice.
Act on behalf of the Republic
The resolution recalls that judges, when exercising jurisdictional functions, act in the name of the Republic and by authority of the law and the Constitution, which imposes on them a State responsibility that cannot be separated from the demands of applied judicial ethics.
Likewise, it specifies that the Ethical Behavior Committee’s function is to manage and ensure compliance with the ethical principles and values that govern the actions of judges and judicial servants, without its work having a sanctioning nature, in line with the Ibero-American Code of Judicial Ethics.
The resolution is signed by the magistrate Luis Henry Molina Peñapresident of the SCJ; Judge Salcedo Fernández; Judge Montero Montero; and Judge Garabito Ramírez.
Millionaire embezzlement in Senasa
In this first stage, there are 10 people involved in the million-dollar Senasa fraud plot, in which former director Hazim is accused of having received more than a billion in bribes. Read Estrella alone claimed to have given him $1 billion in cash during the duration of the scam in 2020.
In addition to Hazim and Read Estrella, the file is made up Gustavo Enrique Messina Cruz, Francisco Iván Minaya Pérez, German Rafael Robles Quiñones, Rafael Luis Martínez Hazim, Ada Ledesma Ubiera, Ramon Alan Speakler Mateo, Cinty Acosta Sención, Heidi Mariela Pineda Perdomo.
