Spanish
Santo Domingo.- The Fourth Instruction Court of the National District confirmed this Thursday the validation of the medical license granted to former senator Rafael Calderón after receiving the corresponding report from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif).
Magistrate Altagracia Ramírez, presiding judge of the court, reported that the medical examiner appointed by the court corroborated the content and recommendations originally issued by the former legislator's urologist-oncologist.
You may be interested in: National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif)
"Its content has been corroborated with the information provided by the coroner appointed by the court", declared Magistrate Ramírez, after the process of verification of the clinical documents, according to a note sent by Calderón's office. The hearing scheduled for this Thursday was postponed due to the health situation of the former senator for the province of Azua. According to the statements of his technical defense, former Senator Calderón remained hospitalized for several days in an intensive care unit after contracting a bacteria, a complication that worsened his pre-existing clinical condition. This health situation prompted the issuance of a medical leave for a period of 30 days, the time needed for recovery and stabilization. Although in previous hearings the magistrate had expressed observations about the extension of the rest, the INACIF's legal medical expertise has ratified that the accused is not in physical condition to appear before the court immediately. Calderón is accused by the Public Ministry of being part of a "criminal holding" dedicated to the expropriation of land and the embezzlement of public funds during the government of former President Danilo Medina to finance the 2020 political campaign. This case is called Calamar and has as its main defendants the former Minister of Finance, Donald Guerrero, and the former ministers, administrative of the Presidency and Public Works, José Ramón Peralta and Gonzalo Castillo, respectively. Specifically, the prosecution body points out in its 3,662-page indictment that, due to his closeness to the former Minister of Finance, Calderón directly managed the authorization of payment of administrative debt for the expropriation of land declared of public utility, demanding in return from the legitimate owners the delivery of amounts ranging from 40% to 70% of the sum paid. This, according to the record, by virtue of real estate sales and transactional agreements signed directly by Guerrero, "without any justification or legal basis, except for the payment of bribes." Due to Calderón's justified absence, his office added, the hearings scheduled for last week could not take place, remaining pending until the defendant complies with the recovery period established by the specialists.
