Senasa case: Hazim review postponed, detention confirmed for co-defendant

In the Dominican Republic's Senasa corruption investigation, a judge on Thursday ratified pretrial detention for former medical authorizations assistant Ángel Luis Guzmán Vásquez, while another tribunal adjourned the mandatory review of ex-director Santiago Hazim's 18-month preventive custody to August 5.

What happened

The First Court of Instruction of the National District, with Judge Lisa Veras presiding, accepted prosecutors' request and kept Guzmán Vásquez in custody at CCR Las Parras. He was arrested in April when trying to fly to Boston without a return ticket; he worked at Senasa's medical authorizations department from March 2021 to November 2022 Source: Hoy Source: Listín Diario. Separately, Judge Deiby Timoteo Peguero of the Seventh Court postponed the obligatory review of the measure against Hazim and five other co-defendants to August 5 at 9 a.m., at defense attorney Miguel Valerio's request to prepare briefs. Prosecutor Mirna Ortiz did not oppose the postponement Source: Listín Diario Source: El Caribe.

The reaction

Both the head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Administrative Corruption (Pepca), Mirna Ortiz, and Hazim's defense denied that any cooperation agreement currently exists between the accused and the prosecution. Yet they left the door open to future accords: "We are pro-agreements and do not rule out that, in the future, if conditions are met, those agreements could exist. At this moment they do not exist" Source: Diario Libre Source: Hoy. Sources disagree on the deadline to file the formal accusation: El Día's "countdown" article says July 30 is the deadline, while another El Día piece quotes Ortiz saying the eight-month term has not yet expired Source: El Día Source: El Día.

What's next

On August 5, the Seventh Court will decide whether to maintain, modify, or replace preventive detention for Hazim and the other imprisoned defendants Source: El Caribe. The prosecution alleges the network defrauded Senasa of at least RD$15,900 million (some reports say RD$15 billion), harming more than 7 million affiliates Source: Listín Diario Source: Hoy.