Court leaves Calamar case in a state of failure; decision will be on May 29

Santo Domingo.– The Fourth Instruction Court of the National District left the Calamar case in a state of judgment, and set the decision for next May 29 on whether the defendants will be sent to trial on the merits. Judge Altagracia Ramírez adopted the measure after concluding the preliminary hearing, in which she heard the conclusions of the Public Ministry, the legal representatives of the Dominican State, and the defense lawyers. The ruling will be announced at 3:00 p.m. During the hearing, the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) requested the court to issue an order to open a trial against all those involved, so that they may answer for the acts attributed to them. In contrast, the defense requested that a dismissal be issued, alleging insufficient evidence to support a trial on the merits. In that sense, the legal team of former minister Gonzalo Castillo argued that key figures in the alleged scheme were not included in the formal accusation.

You can also read: Preliminary hearings of the Calamar and Camaleón cases continue

The file involves, in addition, former officials Donald Guerrero and José Ramón Peralta, accused along with other implicated parties of stealing more than 19 billion pesos from the State through irregular payments for land expropriations and bribes destined for the 2020 political campaign. Also listed as defendants are Daniel Omar Caamaño, Luis Miguel Piccirilo, Claudio Silver Peña, Oscar Chalas Guerrero and Julián Omar Fernández. The Public Ministry attributes to the defendants the commission of crimes such as criminal association, embezzlement, collusion of officials, falsification of documents, bribery, illicit campaign financing, and money laundering, in what has been described as a large-scale administrative corruption scheme.