SANTO DOMINGO- Mérid Torres, director of the State Land Titling Technical Unit (UTECT), appeared yesterday before the Attorney General of the Republic, Mirian Germán Brito, to make himself available to the justice system and be investigated in relation to the Calamar case, in whose file it is said that he received RD$32,065,992 from the former Minister of Finance, Donald Guerrero, for the payment of some land where he acted as a lawyer.
The official remained in the Attorney General's office for over an hour. Upon leaving, he did not provide further details of his conversation with Germán Brito.
“I requested an appointment regarding the matter at hand. We discussed the issue at hand, what we wanted to discuss with the magistrate regarding the matter, and that is why I requested leave to make myself available for the investigation, should it be necessary,” Torres said, after clarifying that he was not summoned, but rather attended voluntarily.
He explained that after speaking with the Attorney General, he would go to the office of Milagros Ortiz, Director of Ethics and Governmental Integrity (DIGEIG), to discuss his case.
Mention
According to the request for coercive measures in Operation Calamar, specifically on pages 149, 152 and 153, the current director of UTECT is listed as one of the beneficiaries with figures that reach more than 32 million pesos, for the expropriation of public lands.
The investigation led by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) indicates that the official and mayoral candidate for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) is the "alleged owner" along with other people of a portion of land in parcel 613, of Cadastral District number 32, municipality of Boca Chica, province of Santo Domingo; covered by title certificate 46572, with a surface area of 168,966.00 square meters, expropriated by decree no. 1159, dated nineteen (19) September of the year 1955.
Willing to collaborate
The official has expressed his willingness to cooperate with the justice system if required and has consistently stated that he did not receive money from the Dominican State, but rather payment for his professional fees from those clients for the case handled by his private law firm and as a settlement.
He claims these are slanderous accusations and that he will sue those who have defamed him. "I am willing to be investigated regarding the aforementioned cases. Today, I denounce to the nation that I have been the victim of a smear campaign of defamation and slander, and I announce that I will take legal action in court against those who have tarnished my good name and our honor by defaming me and my family," the official said at a press conference on April 4.
Torres reported that he was taking a leave of absence from his position after being named in the case file in which Donald Guerrero, José Ramón Peralta and Gonzalo Castillo are named as the main defendants and for whom Judge Kenya Romero ordered 18 months of preventive detention on April 4.
Former Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch said that Torres had an outstanding case with the institution he heads, dating back 2 months.
