Colonel Andrés Pacheco Varela will remain under arrest for corruption

Santo Domingo.- In response to the Public Ministry's request, a judge confirmed the house arrest imposed as a coercive measure on Colonel Andrés Pacheco, prosecuted for administrative corruption in the network dismantled last year with Operation Lobo. Litigating prosecutor Rosa María Pichardo said that to ratify the measure, the court took into account the seriousness of the events documented by the Public Ministry, as well as issues based on the risk of flight. "It poses a danger because it could hinder the investigations against him and against the criminal scheme that this case has," Pichardo told reporters who approached her as she left the court in the Palace of Justice of Ciudad Nueva. The Public Ministry, represented by litigating prosecutors Rosa María Pichardo, Elizabeth Paredes and Yoneivy González, requested Judge Yanibet Rivas, of the Sixth Instruction Court, to maintain the coercive measure imposed on Colonel Pacheco Varela, one of the accused.

We recommend reading:Man who killed Lieutenant Colonel and injured two others at Norfolk University in Virginia identified

The Wolf Operation was launched by the Public Ministry against a bribery network that led to the arrest of military personnel and civilians. Judge Rivas rejected the defendant's request and upheld the restriction of freedom measure for the accused. Also, during the hearing, First Lieutenant Wellington Peralta Santos of the Army requested a permit from the court, which was granted. According to the prosecution, the criminal structure negatively impacted institutions such as the National Institute for Comprehensive Care for Early Childhood (Inaipi), the National Health Insurance (Senasa), and the electricity distribution companies EdeNorte, EdeEste, and EdeSur. Among those involved in the serious events that affected several state institutions are retired Major General Carlos Ambrosio Robles Díaz; Colonels Luis Ernesto Vicioso Bocio, Francisco Guarín Fernández and Elías Camaño Pérez, Air Force Colonel Yorbyn Eduardo Eufracio Aybar; National Police Colonel Ramón Quezada Ortiz; businessman Quilvio Bienvenido Rodríguez González and civilian Bolívar Nicolás Fernández Espinal. The defendants face charges of bribery, criminal association, fraud against the State, and money laundering, in accordance with articles 177, 178, 179, paragraph; 180, 265, 266, and 405 of the Dominican Penal Code. They are also charged with violating article 146, numeral 1, of the Constitution of the Republic, which prohibits administrative corruption.

You can also read:Colonel William Batista hands over police command in Jarabacoa to Colonel J. González

Regarding money laundering, they are accused based on articles 3, numerals 1, 2 and 3; article 4, numeral 8, and article 9, numerals 1, 2 and 4, of Law no. 155-17 against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.