Public Ministry will appeal the dismissals issued in the Calamar case

Santo Domingo.- The director of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), Wilson Camacho, announced this Friday that the Public Ministry will appeal the non-suit orders issued by the Fourth Instruction Court of the National District in favor of several defendants in the Calamar case. After the hearing concluded, Camacho maintained that Judge Altagracia Ramírez's decision contains errors in the assessment of the evidence presented by the prosecution, so they will appeal the ruling to a higher court. The prosecutor explained that, of the 40 people accused, both individuals and legal entities, 35 were sent to trial on the merits, including former Minister of Finance Donald Guerrero, whom he defined as the "operational axis" of the alleged corruption structure investigated by the Public Ministry. "From now on we can tell you that the Public Ministry is going to appeal that decision," Camacho affirmed, pointing out that during the reading of the ruling, an erroneous assessment of several testimonial and documentary evidence incorporated into the file was evident. As explained, the court accepted testimonies presented by the prosecution, including those of Ramón Emilio Jiménez (Mimilo), Fernando Crisóstomo and José Arturo Ureña, but later did not take them into consideration when justifying some of the dismissals.

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Camacho also questioned that one of the people favored by the decision was linked to documents that, according to him, contain handwritten annotations by the accused himself, including references to deceased persons, elements that, in the opinion of the Public Prosecutor's Office, should have been weighed differently by the court. The head of Pepca rejected that the dismissals represent a setback for the prosecution and highlighted that the main decision of the court was to send most of the defendants to trial. "That 35 out of 40 people have been sent to trial is a triumph," he said. However, he reiterated that the Public Ministry maintains the position that all the accused should have faced a trial on the merits for the events attributed in the file and announced that they will present the corresponding appeals to try to reverse the favorable decisions obtained by five of the accused.