Santo Domingo.- The former director of the Metropolitan Office of Bus Services (OMSA), Manuel Rivasbenefited from the money obtained by the state entity as a result of commercial relations with three companies.
This was stated this Wednesday by court attorney Pedro Frías, of the Specialized Attorney for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), in the trial that follows for the murder of the lawyer and professor Yuniol Ramirez Ferreras and the acts of corruption in the OMSA.
“That was settled in court, fully proven,” Frías said when approached by members of the press who asked him about statements made in this regard by the defendants’ defense, when he left the court, located in the Palace of Justice of New City, National District.
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“He used them for personal gain and this was established by several witnesses at the time of deposing the court,” he added.
The trial is aired in the Second Collegiate Court of the National District against Rivas and Faustino Rosario Díaz, who face charges of administrative corruption in the OMSA.
Also, against Argenis Contreras, identified as the main material author of the kidnapping and murder of the lawyer and university professor Ramírez Ferreras, as well as José Mercado (el Grande), Víctor Ravelo Campos (el Herrero), Jorge Abreu, Heidy Peña and Lilian Francisca Suarez Jaquez.
The crime, recorded in October 2017, is linked to acts of administrative corruption that occurred in the government transport entity. Rivas was appointed to the position in August 2012 and when the murder occurred he was directing that institution.
Regarding Faustino Rosario Díaz, he said that the expert who analyzed his affidavits also established a manifest increase in assets as a result of the illicit activities that he carried out in the OMSA.
After completing the day’s agenda, judges Claribel Nivar Arias (president), Yissel Soto and Clara Sobeida Castillo, ordered the postponement of the hearing for next Monday, July 25, starting at 9:00 in the morning.
During the continuation of the hearing, the Public Ministry presented several witnesses.
In addition to Frías, the prosecution body was represented in the trial by Wagner Cubilete, Rosa Ysabel and Elvira Rodríguez.
Ramírez Ferreras, who presided over the National Convergence of Lawyers (CONA), was found dead with a concrete block tied to his neck by a chain, in a stream in Hato Nuevo, Santo Domingo Oeste.
After the incident, Contreras fled the country to the United States, where he was captured and three years later handed over to the country after the efforts of the current administration of the Attorney General’s Office.
In response to a request from the Public Ministry, on February 24, the court decided to unify the file on the murder of lawyer Ramírez with that of the acts of administrative corruption registered in the OMSA.
The Public Ministry began on Wednesday, May 11, the reading of the accusation that contains the charges and the evidentiary elements of the case, and concluded last Friday, May 13. At the current stage, the presentation of the evidence supporting the file continues.
