Santo Domingo.- Having been judged under the New Criminal Code of the Dominican Republic (Law No. 74-25)the businessman Alexis Medina Sánchezagainst whom a judicial process began in 2020 and sentenced in 2025 for corruption in the Operation Antipulpo case, he would have faced a very superior penalty to the Seven years in prison which currently meets.
We recommend you read: What reveals the charges of bribery and money laundering against Alexis Medina?
The new regulations, promulgated in 2025, establishes more severe sentences for crimes against public administrationsuch as corruption, money laundering, influences and embezzlement to the State, all of which were attributed to Medina in the judicial ruling.
One of the main crimes accused was the public corruptiondefined in the Article 284 of the new Criminal Code as any act in which an official, using his position within the State, obtains economic benefits for himself or for third parties, misuse public goods or incur illegal acts in the exercise of his functions.
Also read: Alexis Medina is sentenced to 7 years in prison in Najayo
He Article 285 establishes that, when the amount involved exceeds the minimum wages of the public sector, as tested in the antipulpus case, the penalty will be of ten to twenty years in major prisonwith Fines ten to twenty times the value of stolenconfiscation of goods, and disqualification To occupy Public positions For a period of twenty to thirty years.
In the case of peculation or embezzlementhe Article 304 sanction with ten to twenty years in major prison to the official who subtracts public funds for personal or third party benefit, also including proportional fine and confiscation.
For its part, the Active influencesanother of the crimes imputed to Alexis Medina (brother of the former president of the Republic, Danilo Medina), is contemplated in the Article 293.
This criminal type is configured when an official uses his position or personal relationships to influence another official in order to obtain undue resolutions or benefits. The planned penalty is five to ten years in major prison and between between four to ten times The value of the advantage obtained.
Another position attributed was that of money launderingthat although it is mainly regulated by the Law 155-17is recognized by the new Criminal Code as a crime linked to corruption, with sentences of up to Twenty years in prison when it occurs within the framework of structured criminal activities, as determined by the court in its judgment.
Similarly, illicit enrichment, also linked to the case, can be sanctioned with sentences of five to ten yearsaccording to the new legal framework.
Faced with this stage of multiple crimes, the Article 47 of the new Criminal Code establishes the cluster principle of penaltieswhereby the sanctions imposed by each criminal type are added. However, the law imposes a Maximum limit Forty years in effective prison, even if individual accumulation exceeds that total.
In short, if current legislation has been applied since 2025, Alexis Medina I would have faced one accumulated condemnation that would easily overcome whatS 40 years in prisonbut it would have been limited to that legal maximum established by the cluster.
This difference reflects the Criminal hardening of the new code against corruption crimes, in response to the social claim of greater rigor in the fight against impunity.
On the sentence
Several accused in the framework of administrative corruption, dismantled through the antipulpo operation, received the sentence of seven to five years in prison by the Second Collegiate Court of the National District, After being found guilty of committing a embezzlement to the detriment of the state greater than RD $ 5,000 million.
The highest penalty, consisting of seven years in prison, was against Juan Alexis Medina Sánchezbrother of the former president of the Republic, Danilo Medina.
In the same way, José Dolores Santana Carmona He was sentenced to six years in prison, and Wacal Vernavel Méndez Pineda, Paola Mercedes Molina Suazo, Carlos Martín Montes de Oca, Rigoberto Alcántara Batista, Carlos José Alarcón Veras and Francisco Ramón Brea Morelfive years.
This Thursday, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) lashed out at the Public Ministry, ensuring that the judgment of the Second Collegiate Court of the National District, which acquitted several of its leaders, confirms the lack of objectivity and political use of the accusing body throughout the judicial process.
Lee: Octopus Case: Court downloads Magalys Medina and Fernando Rosa
Among those downloaded are Magalys Medina Sánchezalso sister of the ex -president and Fernando Rosa Former Director of the Patrimonial Fund of the Reformed Companies (FONPER).
In response, the PLD came out in defense of its acquitted leaders, however, it did not refer to those involved who were found guilty for corruption.
We invite you to read: Ángel Rondón: “If there are no bribed, there was no bribe”
In a statement issued Thursday, the PLD said the sentence evidences that the Public Ministry acted “with lack of objectivity, impartiality and withdrawal”, using the case to “build a political narrative” against the party.
Lee: Absolved Díaz Rúa and Ángel Rondón of the Odebrecht case
While public opinion puts the controversy over the table again in the discharges in emblematic cases such as Víctor Díaz Rúa and Ángel Rondón in the Odebrecht process, where the Supreme Court exonerated both after questioning the evidence presented, the Dominican judicial system is renewed and hardens the regime of legal consequences for those who faint to the State.
This normative change seeks to close spaces to impunity and respond to social clamor for a more effective and rigorous justice in the fight against corruption.
