Santo Domingo.- Even in 2026, several of the main judicial files of the Dominican Republic remain trapped in a prolonged procedural limbo.
High-profile cases like
Medusa, Calamar and Coral–Coral 5G have become symbols of judicial slowness, while public attention begins to turn towards
SeNaSa, a case file that will soon be back at the center of the national debate.
You may be interested in: Judicial cases that shook Dominican society during 2024
The Second Criminal Chamber of the
Court of Appeals of the National District set for Tuesday, January 20, the hearing of the appeals filed by Santiago Hazim and six other people involved in the SeNaSa case.
For this reason, at De Último Minuto we have prepared a compilation of the alleged corruption cases that remain "rolling" in the corridors of the Palace of Justice of Ciudad Nueva.
Medusa
The Medusa case, involving former Attorney General of the
Republic Jean Alain Rodríguez and several former officials of the Public Ministry, was presented as one of the largest anti-corruption processes in the country. However, after years of hearings, postponements, procedural incidents, and legal appeals, the trial on the merits has yet to clearly take off.
A new incident prevented yesterday the trial on the merits against the defendants in the case, which should have started in 2024, from being postponed again, this time until January 28th of this year.
Although the incident presented by the defense of the defendant
Altagracia Guillén was rejected by the court, its extensive and repetitive presentation, the late decision of the judges, and the opposition appeal that the lawyer presented to it in court, caused the presentation of the MP that appeared in the number 2 role of the court to be postponed around 4:00 in the afternoon.
Operation Chameleon
The Chameleon Operation is an investigation by the Public Ministry involving a corruption network in the bidding for traffic lights in Greater Santo Domingo, in which more than 1.317 billion pesos were awarded. The accusations include crimes such as espionage, organized crime, use of false documents, illicit enrichment, and embezzlement. The case was exposed at the beginning of October 2024.
The defendants are the former director of the
National Institute of Transit and Terrestrial Transportation (Intrant), Hugo Beras; the businessman José Ángel Gómez Canaán and Pedro Vinicio Padovani Báez, former head of the Traffic Control Center of Intrant.
Squid
The Calamar case, which involves former ministers and high-ranking former officials accused of a millionaire embezzlement of the State, follows a similar route. Despite the initial media impact and the economic magnitude of the file, the process remains bogged down between recusals, technical debates, and decisions that are postponed again and again.
This case is holding a preliminary hearing, and this Friday, the technical defenses of former ministers
José Ramón Peralta and Gonzalo Castillo, pointed out along with
Donald Guerrero as the ringleaders of that alleged criminal structure, presented their arguments.
Coral and Coral 5G
In
Coral and Coral 5G, where high-ranking military and police officials accused of administrative corruption are involved, the situation is no different. Although some partial decisions have been achieved, the trial remains without a near conclusion.
The
First Collegiate Court of the National District set the next hearing for January 20 in the case of alleged corruption known as
Coral and Coral 5G, a date on which the Public Ministry will begin its conclusions.
By decision of the court, the Public Prosecutor's Office will have a period of three hearings to present its concluding elements.
He also arranged for the defense bars to receive the schedule for the presentation of said conclusions via email.
The Public Ministry, through the
Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), accuses military personnel and police officers of forming an alleged corruption network to defraud the Dominican State of more than RD$4.5 billion, which was dismantled with the
Coral and Coral 5G operations.
Operation Falcon
In 2021, the Public Ministry dismantled a drug trafficking and money laundering network that operated mainly from Santiago de los Caballeros and had ramifications in other provinces of the Dominican Republic.
The authorities called this operation against organized crime Operation Falcon. The 70 physical defendants and corporate entities accused of forming the structure were sent to trial on March 6, 2025.
Operation Larva
In October 2021, a supposed drug trafficking and money laundering structure was dismantled with Operation Larva.
The case is in the opening for trial against the defendants
Jorge Luis Herasme Estrella, María Mercedes Ramona Estrella, Sarai Esther Herasme Estrella, Ramón Eduardo Piña Reyes, as well as the five legal entities.
Operation Nest
The Nido operation was launched on January 3, 2024 by the
Public Ministry, with which a supposed network that defrauded people with more than 700 million pesos was dismantled, offering them housing in supposed real estate projects, through multiple fraudulent maneuvers. The case is in the preliminary hearing stage.
The accused are headed by businessman
Emmanuel Rivera Ledezma and his children
Eduardo and María Gabriela Rivera Pichardo, as well as the wife of
Ledesma, Escarlet Mercedes Cruz Figueroa.
Operation Caiman
A presumed structure that trafficked drugs from the department of
La Guajira, Alta Guajira, in Colombia, to the south coast of the Dominican Republic, where shipments of cocaine hydrochloride were seized, was dismantled through Operation Caiman, in April 2024.
Ten people accused of belonging to a criminal network are serving pre-trial detention in penitentiary centers in the southern region.
Operation Seagull
Seven of the eight defendants in the fraud network that captured more than RD$3,000 million through the fraudulent scheme called
Investor Winner, dismantled through Operation Gaviota in June 2024, are in pre-trial detention.
This is in the merits phase.
Operation MC Sunflower
From the
Operation MC Sunflower, it is known that the accused in the alleged transnational criminal network dedicated to human trafficking through sexual exploitation were given three months as a coercive measure in June 2024.
The accused are Michelle Carolina Gutiérrez Ruiz and Mario José May Mendoza. In addition, Jhorman Derek Cortes Solano, who was imposed an economic guarantee of 500 thousand pesos, a ban on leaving the country and periodic reporting.
Operation Hawk
A suspected network operating in the
Attorney General's Office, responsible for removing criminal records of criminals and prisoners in exchange for bribes. The network was dismantled in August 2024 through Operation Gavilán.
According to the Public Prosecutor's accusation, employees of the Technology Directorate of the Attorney General's Office, took advantage of their access to the database of the Cases and Files System to alter and delete criminal records.
Most of the defendants are subject to coercive measures. The case is at the beginning of the trial on the merits.
Operation Buffalo NK
The individuals involved in Operation Buffalo NK were arrested during a simultaneous operation by air, sea, and land, deployed in the provinces of
Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, María Trinidad Sánchez, La Romana, and Samaná.
This is a supposed international drug trafficking network with ramifications in Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. This network was dismantled in September 2024.
For the case, Rafael Ynoa Santana, alias "El Cojo", Isidoro Rotestan Clase, Juan Bolívar Hernández, José Antonio Toribio, Juan Henrique Tavarez, Severiano Núñez Pichardo, Robert Nicolás Acosta Adames, and Cristian Esteban Alcántara Javier are in preventive detention.
Operation Reef 2.0
Through Operation Reef 2.0, a drug trafficking and money laundering structure was dismantled in October 2024.
The defendants in the case are subject to coercive measures as follows:
Ángel María Polanco, Luis Arístides Alcéquiez, Alanna Familia and Ana María Peña Meléndez were sentenced to one year in prison, to be served at the Olegario Tenares Freedom Deprivation Center, located in the municipality of Nagua.
The accused Ana Victoria Duarte Trinidad is under house arrest, also for one year. Meanwhile, Wilmer Manuel Polanco Caridad has as a coercive measure the periodic presentation every six months before the Prosecutor's Office of María Trinidad Sánchez.
Operation Pandora
In November 2024, the Public Ministry launched Operation Pandora against a criminal network composed of National Police officers, led by the colonel who directed the
Weapons Intendancy of said institution. This network stole more than 900,000 projectiles.
Seven of the 10 people charged in the theft of ammunition from the National Police are serving preventive prison in the military detention center of Special Operations, located in Manoguayabo, Santo Domingo Oeste. Others were imposed the guarantee measure and house arrest.
Operation Venus
It was called
Operation Venus to a case about an alleged network accused of trafficking and sexually exploiting Colombian women in the country, dismantled at the end of February 2025.
The accused are Dariel Castro Santos, Geraldyne Torres Betancur (Colombian, who lived with Dariel), Jason Manuel Santana, alias "Nino" and Félix Joel Rodríguez, alias "Joi". (Lived with Jason). The accused are serving a year of pre-trial detention.
Antidote Case II
Another case pending before the Public Ministry is the so-called Antidote II Case, in which the defendants are the deputy director and six other Penitentiary Surveillance and Treatment Agents (VTP), for assaulting several inmates at the El Pinito Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR) in La Vega.
For the case, Judge Adaías Sánchez, of the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services of La Vega, declared the case complex and imposed the pre-trial detention measure on the deputy director of the CCR, José Luis Agramonte, as well as agents Julio Alcibíades Montás Pérez, Robert De La Rosa, Joheny de Mora Moreta, José Benjamín Jerez Pérez, Ariel Meregildo and Santo Beltré Reyes, all 31 years old.
Operation Barrel
The Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prosecutor's Office and the Santo Domingo Este Prosecutor's Office launched Operation Barril on April 29, 2025, with 17 simultaneous raids against a suspected criminal structure involved in drug trafficking, gambling, and money laundering.
The organization would be headed by David Caminero Borgen, alias "el Patrón de Mendoza", who is currently serving pre-trial detention.
For this case, the Public Ministry submitted Caminero Borgen, Enmanuel Caminero Borgen and Olga Borgen last February, after conducting several raids, in conjunction with members of the National Police. They are serving 18 months of pre-trial detention, as a coercive measure, in the Correction and Rehabilitation Centers (CCR) Najayo Hombres and Najayo Mujeres, in San Cristóbal.
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