HOLY SUNDAY.— The judge of the Permanent Attention Office of the National District, Rigoberto Sena, reserved the ruling for this Sunday at 6:00 p.m.or on the request for a coercive measure against those involved in the Cobra case, accused of embezzling from the National Health Insurance (SENASA).
The Public Ministry requested the imposition of 18 months of preventive detention, as a measure of coercion, against the accused Santiago Marcelo Hazim Albainy, former director of SeNaSa; Rafael Luis Martínez Hazim, Gustavo Enrique Messina Cruz, Germán Rafael Robles Quiñones, Francisco Iván Minaya Pérez, Cinty Acosta Sención, Ramón Alan Speakler Mateo and Ada Ledesma Ubiera.
Meanwhile, the accusing body changed the request for preventive detention to house arrest, economic guarantee, impediment to departure and periodic presentation against Eduardo Read Esdtrella and Heidi Mariela Pineda. These two defendants have decided to collaborate with the Public Ministry and have been offering “valuable” information for the investigation of the process.
To those involved in the In the Cobra case, they are charged with the crimes of embezzlement, fraud against the State, falsification of documents, administrative corruption, money laundering, prevaricationamong other criminal offenses.
According to the accusation, the network of administrative corruption, dismantled through Operation Cobra, would have raised billions of pesos for the illicit enrichment of its members, to the detriment of the health services offered to the population by the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa).
In recent statements, Attorney Yeni Berenice Reynoso said that the evidence indicates that some of the defendants collected resources from bribes, which they used to acquire properties, create portfolio companies, purchase and manage assets, as well as various investments that are currently the subject of investigation.
The defendants were transferred by penitentiary agents from the court to the preventive prison of the Ciudad Nueva Courthouse, where they remain awaiting the judicial decision.
During the hearing, three of the accused Eduardo Read Estrella, Cinty Acosta Sención and Heydi Mariela Pineda They admitted the facts attributed to them and confessed to having delivered large sums of money to the former director of Senasa Hazim, as recorded in the file and the statements offered before the judge.
The confessions of these three defendants are part of the evidence that the Public Ministry has presented to the court, along with a voluminous file that supports the accusations of association of criminals, bribery, embezzlement, defrauding the State, among other crimes.
With the decision to reserve the decision for Sunday, the court will give time for all the elements presented to be exhaustively analyzed, including the arguments of the defenses, before issuing the coercive measure that will govern the course of the process.
The hearing continued this Friday after having been adjourned the previous night, and the reservation of the ruling leaves the country waiting for a decision regarding one of the most relevant judicial cases regarding administrative corruption in the Dominican Republic.
