Santo Domingo.- A man and a former official of the Civil State of Bani were sent to preventive detention for a month, after being accused by falsehood in writing public and prevarication, in a case that has shaken the province of Peravia.
The investigation by the Public Ministry reveals that both were part of a framework intended for the fraudulent reconstruction of Civil Status recordsusing false documents and manipulating official records without the alleged minutes being recorded in the corresponding books.
According to the authorities, these maneuvers had a malicious purpose: to allow certain applicants to claim property rights over other people’s land through non-existent affiliations. In this way, people without legal legitimacy could try to appropriate real estate using adulterated documents as support.
The accused are Yohana Elizabeth de la Cruz Matos, former civil status officer of the First District of Baní, and Dionicio Colomé. Judge Rosaura Garabitos, of the Judicial Office of Permanent Care Services of Peravia, decided to impose preventive detention as precautionary measure, given the risk that the accused could hinder the investigation or escape justice.
De la Cruz Matos must serve his preventive detention in the Baní Mujeres penitentiary center, while Colomé will remain in the Baní Hombres prison, waiting for the judicial process to continue.
The Public Ministry is represented by Luis Armando Pimentel, prosecutor of Peravia, and Esther González, prosecutor assigned to the Central Electoral Board.
In addition, a team of lawyers from the Central Electoral Board acted as plaintiffs, given the direct involvement of the institution in the alteration of civil registries.
The defendants face charges of association of criminals, falsification of public documents, alteration of Civil Status records and prevaricationcrimes contemplated in articles 147, 148, 166, 265 and 266 of the Dominican Penal Code, as well as in article 208 of Organic Law 4-23 of Civil Status Acts.
