Santo Domingo, RD.
Prosecutor Mirna Ortiz said on Monday that the defense of the accused Tommy Alberto Galán Grullón still does not disprove the accusation of the Public Ministry (MP) against him for his involvement in the bribes of the company Odebrecht.
“Tommy Galán’s defense has not distorted the accusations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at all. Moreover, today the defense has passed through the branches. The Public Prosecutor’s Office also did not provide any strong arguments on the basis of evidence presented to the court and which could distort the prosecution’s accusation, “he said.
The Litigation Coordinator of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) produced her statements when answering questions from journalists at the exit of the First Collegiate Court of the National District, which knows the file for the US $ 92 million in bribes distributed by Odebrecht among intermediaries, officials and legislators, with the purpose of arranging the award of public works contracts in the country.
“Most of the time they spent making quotes from doctrinaires, from sources; even quotes from countries that have nothing to do with the process that is going on in the Dominican Republic today; therefore, the prosecution’s accusation remains firm, strong and none of the defenses has been able to counter the forcefulness of our accusation and our evidence, “he said.
He recalled that Odebrecht claimed to have paid bribes to legislators and, within those legislators, “says Odebrecht’s own company, through the lenity agreement, is Tommy Galán.”
He explained that the evidence provided by the Public Ministry leads to this conclusion. “That is, the court will eventually have to come to the same conclusion that the prosecution has come to.”
“We have provided the lenity agreement, we have provided the illicit enrichment congruent with the bribes they claim to have paid Odebrecht. All this evidence is already in the hands of the court.”
In the day of this Monday the defense of the ex-senator by the province San Cristóbal gave beginning to its allegations before the accusations that weigh on Galán Grullón by illicit enrichment, falsification in the sworn declarations and washing of assets resulting from serious infringements.
At Pepca’s request, the court ordered Galán Grullón’s defense in the morning to omit the presentation of videos and other supports of his speech.
The court ruled that at this stage of the trial there should be no recourse to audiovisual or documentary media that were not debated at trial, as in the end, the decision was the product of the weighting of the evidence incorporated and debated at trial in the earlier stages.
Besides Galán Grullón, in the process appear like coimputados Àngel Rondón Rijo, business representative of Odebrecht; the former director of the National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (Inapa) and former Minister of Public Works, Víctor Díaz Rúa; the lawyer Conrado Pittaluga Arzeno, the ex-senator of San Cristóbal, Tommy Alberto Galán Grullón, and Roberto Rodríguez Hernández, also ex-director of the Inapa.
At this final stage of the trial, Izmir Judges Giselle Méndez, Tania Iunis and Jissel Naranjo will hear the closing speeches of the parties.
The Public Ministry was the first to set out in previous hearings, concluding its closing speech by asking the court to impose sentences of 10, 7 and 5 years in prison for the accused. Also, that all pay a fine of 200 minimum wages, that the confiscation of goods in favor and benefit of the State and the payment of the costs of the process be ordered, in addition that the measure of coercion for pretrial detention.
Galán Grullón’s lawyers, according to the agenda of the discussions, will continue with the presentation of their allegations this Tuesday, September 7, and then they will conclude in the hearing next Thursday, September 9.
Later, it is appropriate to present his speeches to the defenses of the insurgents Rodríguez Hernández and Pittaluga Arzeno.
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 9 p.m.