Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested 19 people in a sweeping corruption case that accuses a well-known former presidential candidate and three former officials of embezzling nearly $350 million and illegal campaign funding.
The arrests are the latest in a series of investigations officials have launched over the past two years as part of a crackdown on rampant government corruption in the Caribbean nation.
Among those arrested Saturday night is Gonzalo Castillo, a former public works minister who won 37% of the vote when he ran as the Dominican Liberation Party’s presidential candidate in the 2020 general election won by the current President Luis Abinader.
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A former Treasury minister, Donald Guerrero, was also arrested; the former Comptroller General, Daniel Omar Caamaño; and the former minister of administration in the presidency, José Ramón Peralta.
Prosecutors said they were charged with bribing, money laundering and illegally financing the previous election campaign on an “unprecedented” scale after embezzling $347 million in public funds.
The suspects were charged after authorities launched 40 raids targeting their properties and businesses in the capital of Santo Domingo and beyond.
Former Dominican presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo was one of 18 people arrested by authorities for his involvement in a $347 million embezzlement scheme. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez, File)
Hundreds of Castillo supporters gathered outside the courthouse on Monday to protest his arrest as they waved the party’s purple and yellow flag and tried to damage the building before police dispersed the crowd with gas tear gas. Meanwhile, Dominican Liberation Party officials questioned the prosecutors’ impartiality and accused them of only investigating and arresting former government officials and failing to investigate corruption allegations against the current administration of Abinader.
“It is clear that behind these actions there are strong political and re-election interests,” said Charlie Mariotti, the party’s general secretary.
Police also arrested former State Sugar Board director Luis Miguel Piccirilo on Saturday; the former director of the national cadastre, Claudio Silva Peña; and former Casinos and Gambling directors Oscar Chalas Guerrero and Julián Omar Fernández.
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Defense attorneys for the defendants could not immediately be reached for comment. The suspects were due to appear in court on Monday.
Last year, authorities arrested Jean Alain Rodríguez, the country’s former attorney general, and other suspects accused of embezzling public funds in an unrelated case.
One of Abinader’s promises during the 2020 campaign was to appoint an independent attorney general to fight corruption and impunity. He chose Miriam Germán Brito, a highly regarded former judge.
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Since then, various senior government officials linked to former President Danilo Medina have been arrested, along with two of his siblings.
