Spanish
Santo Domingo.- Judge Altagracia Ramírez, of the Fourth Instruction Court of the National District, issued this Friday a dismissal in favor of the former Minister of Public Works and former presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo, concluding that the evidence presented by the Public Ministry is not sufficient to sustain the accusations against him within the so-called Calamar case.
In motivating her decision, the magistrate pointed out that the prosecuting body failed to clearly and objectively establish the relationship between the alleged funds obtained illicitly by the investigated structure and the economic resources that were used during Castillo's presidential campaign.
The judge explained that during the preliminary stage, financial documents, checks, bank records, campaign income and expense reports filed with the Central Electoral Board, as well as other evidence incorporated into the file by the parties, were examined.
However, he indicated that after a joint and harmonious assessment of that evidence, the court determined that there are not sufficient elements to demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Gonzalo Castillo incurred in the acts attributed to him by the Public Ministry.
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The accusation maintained that the former official had received resources from an alleged network of administrative corruption to finance political and electoral activities. However, the judge concluded that the investigation could not precisely identify which funds had had an illicit origin nor link them directly to the donations and contributions received by Castillo during his presidential candidacy. In that sense, the court considered that it was also not possible to sustain the charges related to illicit financing of political campaigns, money laundering, association of wrongdoers, coalition of officials, prevarication, bribery and other crimes indicated in the indictment. The magistrate held that the evidence presented does not allow for the establishment of a reasonable probability of conviction in a possible trial on the merits, an indispensable requirement to order the opening of a trial in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. For that reason, the court decided to issue a dismissal in favor of Gonzalo Castillo, removing the former minister from the criminal process at this judicial stage. The decision is part of the ruling issued regarding the Calamar case, an expediente through which the Public Ministry accuses several former officials of integrating an alleged network that would have diverted more than 21 billion pesos from the State through irregular payments related to expropriations of land declared of public utility.
