Lawyers in the Hugo Beras case, Jochi Gómez and associates have been unable to destroy evidence supporting corruption charges

Santo Domingo. – The Public Ministry affirmed this Monday that, during the preliminary hearing of the case, the defense lawyers of the defendants Hugo Beras, José Ángel (Jochi) Gómez Cananaán and others have not been able to destroy the evidence on which the accusation against them for administrative corruption is based.
Court attorney Mirna Ortiz, head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), deplored the defense’s allegations. “The reality of today’s hearing is that the defense has not been able, with any of its arguments, to destroy the prosecution’s evidence,” she said, when answering questions from the press at the Palace of Justice in Ciudad Nueva.
“They have fled from relevant points of the facts such as: the use of false documents to obtain contracts with the State, having co-opted public contracting and having monopolized it in the Intrant (National Institute of Transit and Terrestrial Transportation), contracting through companies in the name of third parties with figureheads, when the final and ultimate beneficiary was José Ángel Gómez Cananá,” she detailed.

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“They have not been able to destroy the evidence and arguments of the Public Ministry related to the use of names of people who have testified before the Public Ministry and who will testify in this court that they did not cede, nor gave, nor lent their names to contract with the Dominican State or with José Ángel Gómez Cananaán”, added Ortiz, who headed the litigation team that represented the Public Ministry in the hearing, which was also made up of prosecutors Jonathan Pérez Fulcar and Arolin Lemos.
“The defenses said nothing about those points. So, evidently, the accusation remains as strong as the first day and we will see each other in the trial”, underlined the head of the Pepca.

The Sixth Instruction Court of the National District, presided over by Judge Yanibet Rivas, must decide in the process on the sending to trial of the accused as requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The hearing continues next Friday, March 27.
Hugo Beras, former director of the National Institute of Transit and Terrestrial Transportation (Intrant), and José Ángel (Jochi) Gómez Canaán, owner of Aurix S.A.S., are being prosecuted for the case.

Also, Pedro Vinicio Padovani Báez, former head of the Intrant Traffic Control Center, and Samuel Gregorio Baquero Sepúlveda, former director of Technology of the Intrant, are accused.

They are joined by Frank Rafael Atilano Díaz Warden, former Dispatch coordinator and representative of Beras before the Purchasing Committee; Juan Francisco Álvarez Carbuccia, administrative and financial director of Intrant, and Carlos José Peguero Vargas.
Also, Mariano Gustini, Manuel Eduardo Mora Vázquez and Henry Darío Féliz Casso were included in the indictment.

The accused legal entities are: Transcore Latam S.R.L., Aurix S.A.S., Inprosol S.R.L., OML Inversiones S.R.L., PagoRD Xchange S.R.L., Industria Soltex Dominicana S.R.L., and Dekolor S.R.L.

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During the process, the Public Ministry indicated that in the course of the investigation, it obtained evidence of the existence of various criminal lines, including administrative corruption, fraud in public contracting, fraud against the State, sabotage of critical infrastructure, smuggling, counterfeiting, high-tech crimes, acts of terrorism on critical infrastructure, and money laundering. These irregularities developed mainly through Intrant and the Ministry of Defense.

It was determined that through irregular contracts and agreements with Dekolor S.R.L., PagoRD Xchange S.R.L. and Transcore Latam S.R.L., privileged access was granted to these companies, used to divert public funds and execute money laundering operations, violating the principles of transparency, technological security, and administrative legality.

The central axis of the scheme is José Ángel Gómez Canaán, who maintains corporate, financial, and operational links with the companies Dekolor, PagoRD Xchange, Transcore Latam, and Aurix. Under his direction, these entities formed a criminal network dedicated to defrauding the State, money laundering, and technological sabotage, consolidating their control over critical infrastructures and strategic resources of the State.