Spanish
Santo Domingo. - Deputies criticized on Monday the agreements of the Public Ministry that favor with house arrest three of the accused who admitted before the judge that they paid bribes to Santiago Hazim, former director of the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa), and other officials of that state entity, in the millionaire embezzlement of the state insurer.
The ruling party deputy Eugenio Cedeño questioned the application of the opportunity criterion by the Public Ministry, considering that the legal conditions for granting this benefit to these three defendants were not met. In his opinion, the investigated facts seriously endangered public health, which, according to the law, constitutes an express cause for not applying this type of alternative mechanism.
Furthermore, he maintained that the case has sufficient and evident evidence, so it was not necessary to resort to the testimony of a co-participant to support the main accusation.
You can also read: Collado affirms tourism sector funds are managed transparently
"The opportunity criterion is applied when it is impossible to convict the main defendant without the testimony of an accomplice; but in this case there was sufficient evidence, so it is suspicious that it has been used to exclude a person who played a determining role in events that endangered public health," said the legislator. Likewise, Rafael Castillo, deputy for the Fuerza del Pueblo, maintained that given the magnitude of the damage caused to the health system and the insured population, the Public Ministry should have requested preventive detention for all those involved, although the flexibilization of some measure could be subsequently evaluated. "The judge qualified this case as a crime against humanity and compares it to a holocaust, that demonstrates the magnitude of the damage; here the Public Ministry should have requested imprisonment for all those involved, because what has been done is to take away the health of the Dominican people," said the legislator. In that regard, deputy Charlie Mariotti Paz considered that those who have admitted guilt and are collaborating with the investigation should not receive more benefits than the rest of those involved, due to the serious damage caused to the health of Dominicans. According to Mariotti Paz, while the investigations are deepened, all those involved must answer to justice without privileges, as it is a direct attack against the public health system. "The message sent with these agreements seems to be: steal a lot and speak first; here the health of Dominicans was attacked and no one can be above the law or receive privileges," he expressed. Santiago Hazim, Rafael Luis Martínez Hazim, Gustavo Enrique Messina Cruz, Germán Rafael Robles Quiñones, Francisco Iván Minaya Pérez, Ramón Alan Speakler Mateo and Ada Ledesma Ubiera, must serve 18 months of pre-trial detention for embezzling from the State. While under house arrest will be: Cinty Acosta Sención, Heidy Mariela Medina and Eduardo Read Estrella. Among other crimes, the group is charged with coalition of officials, malfeasance, association of wrongdoers, bribery, fraud against the Dominican State, embezzlement, forgery, use of false documents, and money laundering. Court prosecutor Mirna Ortiz, head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), said that those who admitted the facts before Judge Rigoberto Sena do so by "providing evidence and admitting that they paid bribes to members of SeNaSa, including its former director, Dr. Hazim."
