“Under heavy security, the hearing for Lora Cruceta and his wife is moved due to a millionaire embezzlement at the Oncology Center”

Santiago.- Under a heavy security detail, Héctor Antonio Lora Cruceta, former president of the Board for the Fight Against Cancer, and his wife, Luisa Yasiris Guzmán, were transferred this Thursday to the Permanent Attention Office of the Judicial District of Santiago. The Public Prosecutor’s Office is requesting 18 months of pretrial detention against them and that the case be declared complex due to their alleged involvement in Operation Onco14.

According to the prosecuting body, the defendants allegedly participated in the embezzlement of millions of pesos intended for the treatment of patients at the Cibao Regional Oncological Institute (IORC), resources that were supposed to be used to guarantee care for people facing the disease.

It is expected that in the coming hours, the judge of the Permanent Attention Office of the Judicial District of Santiago, Estefanny Reyes, will hear the request for a coercive measure presented by the Public Ministry, which maintains that the magnitude of the case and the amount of evidence justify the imposition of preventive detention and the declaration of complexity.

You can also read: Public Prosecutor’s Office states that the accusation in the Onco14 case will be based on evidence and not on the statements of the accused

Operation Onco14 has caused great commotion in Santiago and the rest of the country, as the investigation involves the alleged irregular management of funds intended for the care of cancer patients, an especially vulnerable sector that depends on those resources to receive medical treatments.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office states that it will continue to present the evidence collected during the investigation for the purpose of supporting the charges brought against the defendants during the hearing of the coercive measure.