The first collegiate court of the national district today authorized the special prosecutor for the prosecution of administrative corruption (Pepca), to incorporate in his documentary evidence a CD containing financial information about the companies of the accused Víctor Díaz Rúa.
The decision was taken by Judges Gisell Méndez and Jisell Naranjo, with the dissenting vote of Judge Tania Yunes, after accepting the appeal filed by Pepca chief Wilson Camacho and prosecutor Mirna Ortiz.
The court annulled the decision taken last Thursday, where it accepted an objection from Díaz Rúa’s lawyers, establishing in the decision that the order did not have a deadline for due diligence, a decision against which the Public Ministry appealed to the opposition.
However, the court warned that all information contained in that CD about Víctor Manuel Díaz Guerrero, the son of defendant Díaz Rúa, would not be taken into account.
Last week, the court’s decision had the dissenting vote of Judges Tania Yunes and Jisell Naranjo, the latter now expressing a saved vote, joining court president Gisell Méndez, who argued that the inclusion of such evidence should be allowed.
On appeal, the Public Prosecutor’s Office sought to annul the decision by which it ruled out the incorporation of that evidence, after accepting an objection raised by the technical defense of the accused Díaz Rúa.
During the hearing, the Public Ministry claimed that the mentioned financial information was obtained legally, by the corresponding court order issued by the magistrate José Alejandro Vargas (then coordinating judge of the national courts of inquiry of the district.
Wilson Camacho, who leads the litigation team representing the Public Ministry, said the order was executed within a reasonable time and said it had been handed over to the court.
He pointed out that Judge Vargas had authorized the criminal investigation body to request data on Díaz Rúa’s companies from the Superintendency of Banks and that this had been done, for which he said that they should be included in the evidence against the accused.
In this regard, the Public Ministry argued that the Constitution of the Dominican Republic stipulates that no citizen may be obliged to do what is not provided by law, in addition to the fact that the criminal procedure rule does not provide deadlines for fulfilling this type of due diligence. what he said in this case corresponds to the incorporation of the mentioned evidence.
For $ 92 million paid by the Brazilian company Odebrecht in exchange for being favored with the award of works by the Dominican state, in addition to Víctor Díaz Rúa, Ángel Rondón Rijo, Tommy Galán Grullón, Andrés Bautista García, Conrado Pittaluga and Roberto Rodríguez are being prosecuted.
The investigative body attributes to him the fact that he enriched himself illegally in violation of the Dominican Criminal Code, the old Law 72-02 on money laundering and Law 448-06, on taking bribes.