NATIONAL DISTRICT.– “Confident in justice. Confident”. With these brief words, Hugo Beras reacted this Friday after learning of the decision of the Sixth Instruction Court of the National District, based in Ciudad Nueva, which ordered the opening of a trial against him and the others involved in the so-called Chameleon case.
The former director of the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant) offered his statements upon leaving the courtroom, after Judge Yanibet Rivas issued the order to proceed to trial.
The decision paves the way for a new stage of the judicial process, in which a trial court must analyze the evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the defense teams to determine if there is criminal liability for the alleged acts.
After the ruling was announced, Beras’s lawyer, Laura Acosta, stated that the referral to trial does not represent a declaration of guilt and stressed that her client’s presumption of innocence remains in effect until there is a final and irrevocable sentence.
“The judge says that there is sufficient evidence to go to a full trial, and in the full trial, they will be discussed to determine whether there is guilt or not,” the jurist expressed.
Acosta also highlighted that, although he does not agree with some legal aspects of the decision, he considers that the magistrate performed a duly substantiated and structured job during the preliminary hearing.
The defense attorney also pointed out that some of the facts attributed to Beras will have to be clarified during the trial, arguing that at certain times indicated by the prosecution, her client was not yet serving as director of Intrant.
Judge Yanibet Rivas ordered the opening of a trial against all the defendants in the Camaleón case, including Hugo Beras and businessman Jochi Gómez. During the preliminary hearing, the court accepted part of the indictment presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and excluded the terrorism charge that appeared in the initial file.
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According to the prosecuting body, the defendants allegedly participated in an alleged fraud scheme exceeding 1.5 billion pesos to the detriment of the Dominican State.
With the order to proceed to trial, the case now enters a phase in which the evidence will be debated before a trial court, which will have the responsibility of determining the guilt or innocence of the accused.
