Court upholds pretrial detention for Santiago Hazim and other defendants in the SeNaSa embezzlement case in the Dominican Republic
A preliminary court in Santo Domingo on Thursday upheld pretrial detention for Santiago Marcelo F. Hazim Albainy, former director of the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa), and four other defendants in the network that, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, embezzled billions of pesos from the public health insurer in the case known as Operation Cobra.
The decision by the Seventh Preliminary Court of the National District, presided over by Judge Deiby Timoteo Peguero, keeps Hazim and co-defendants Gustavo Enrique Messina Cruz, Germán Rafael Robles Quiñones, Francisco Minaya and Ramón Alan Speakler in prison. Deputy prosecutor Wilson Camacho, who led the prosecution team, argued at the hearing that "there is not a single element that would justify changing the coercive measure."
The judge changed the measure only for Rafael Martínez Hazim, who, because of a medical condition presented by his defense, will serve house arrest with an electronic monitoring device, in addition to posting a 15-million-peso bond through an insurer and a ban on leaving the country. The full reading of the decision was set for November 26.
In his reasoning, the judge cited the gravity of the acts against an institution that provides health services to broad sectors of the population, the flight risk posed by the defendants and the harm to be repaired to the state and society. The defendants face charges including collusion of public officials, prevarication, criminal association, bribery, fraud against the state, embezzlement, forgery, use of false documents and money laundering.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the scheme used large-scale bribery, falsified financial statements and special programs with no legal basis to divert SeNaSa funds. The coercive measure had already been upheld last August. The investigation continues: in September, Operation Cobra 2.0-A led to measures against 24 people, including several doctors.
Photo: Ministerio Público RD
Source: La Hora del Sur