SANTO DOMINGO.— The Public Ministry filed a formal indictment against prosecutor Aurelio Valdez Alcántara, whom it accuses of having requested money and other assets from a person linked to a criminal investigation, and requested that the case be sent to trial.
The indictment was filed before the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the National District by the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Yeni Berenice Reynoso; the Deputy Prosecutor Wilson Camacho and the prosecutor Andrés Octavio Mena Marte, who requested that the preliminary hearing be scheduled to review the case file.
According to the prosecuting body, Valdez Alcántara, who belonged to the team of prosecutors of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), allegedly used his position to pressure a person who was the subject of an investigation.
The file indicates that the prosecutor had contact with the investigated person during an interrogation conducted in December of last year, related to an investigation into an alleged corruption scheme at the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa).
Subsequently, according to the accusation, both maintained communication via WhatsApp. The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that during those conversations, the accused allegedly offered to help the person under investigation in exchange for money and other assets.
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The initially requested sum would have been 200 thousand dollars, subsequently reduced to 150 thousand dollars. In addition to the money, according to the accusation, he allegedly showed interest in obtaining a Rolex watch and a Mercedes Benz vehicle.
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The authorities carried out a controlled delivery of 10 thousand dollars last March, after which an arrest warrant was executed against the prosecutor.
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Valdez Alcántara was sent to pretrial detention in May and remains held at the Najayo Men’s Correction and Rehabilitation Center in San Cristóbal. The measure was ratified in July by the Third Chamber of the Criminal Court of the Court of Appeals of the National District, which set the next mandatory review for September 3.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also requested that all evidence presented in the indictment be admitted and that both the pretrial detention and the precautionary measures imposed on the defendant’s assets be maintained.
The indictment attributes to Valdez Alcántara violations of several articles of the Dominican Penal Code and Law 155-17, on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
