SANTO DOMINGO.- A total of one hundred and nineteen (119) properties, amounting to more than two billion five hundred million pesos (RD$2,500,000,000.00), have been seized so far as part of Operation Coral 5G, in which there are 13 defendants, most of them military personnel.
The document requesting coercive measures, prepared by the Public Prosecutor's Office, states "that said properties have been acquired by the defendants with money from acts of corruption.".
“The multimillion-dollar properties that in the case of Coral 5G amount to more than two billion five hundred million pesos (RD$2,500,000,000.00), are facts that must be judged, in accordance with the rules of the State of Law, but a democratic society that must channel its actions in accordance with the principles of equality between the parties and before the law,” the 634-page file states.
General Juan Carlos Torres Robiou, former head of the Specialized Tourist Security Corps (Cestur), one of the accused, is accused by the Public Ministry file of acquiring a luxurious property, consisting of a tourist apartment within the Balcones del Atlántico condominium, located on 27 de Febrero Street in the municipality of Las Terrenas, Samaná Province, with an approximate value, at present, of half a million dollars (US$500,000.00).
The property was allegedly purchased through Único Real State E Inversiones SRL, and the defendants Rossy Maybelline Guzmán Sánchez (la Pastora) and Tanner Antonio Flete Guzmán pretend to be the owners.
“Note that a year after acquiring it, he also strangely authorized the agreed price for the sale to be the sum of fourteen million two hundred sixty thousand pesos (DOP$14,260,000.00), when the value of said property practically doubles this amount,” the file states.
That same property is under the possession of General Torres Robiou supposedly as a rental, paying a monthly amount of three thousand US dollars (US$3,000.00), "a situation that corroborates the illegality," the Public Prosecutor's Office states.
In addition to that property, Torres Robiou acquired, the file explains, the property consisting of a villa near Rancho Arroyo Naranjo, Jarabacoa, with a transfer date of April 19, 2021.
Similarly, the Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that he acquired a property on July 3, 2019, consisting of a rural plot of land located in Monte Plata. "Together with his spouse, Greybby Maria Cuello Coste, the accused owns an apartment at Avenida Enriquillo No. 35, in the Torre Regatta Residences complex, unit 701, in the Renacimiento sector, National District, acquired on August 21, 2018.".
Furthermore, the defendant—according to the request for pretrial detention—acquired another property, a villa also located near Rancho Arroyo Naranjo, Jarabacoa. Together with his partner, Felipe De Jesús Fernández Isa, through the company R&F AGROINDUSTRIAL SRL, he owns a property in Rancho Arriba, San José de Ocoa, where he has a greenhouse with a multi-million dollar investment.
These assets would not correspond to the income received by the accused, since, “According to certification issued by the Dominican Air Force, dated May 17, 2021, from 2014 to 2021, the accused Torres Robiou received from said institution, in terms of salaries and incentives, the amount of six million two hundred thirty-six thousand five hundred ninety-four pesos with seventeen cents (DOP$6,236,594.17),” the document explains.
“Likewise, the Central Directorate of Tourist Police, through its letter 1835 dated July 30, 2021, establishes that the accused Torres Robiou received, as salary and bonuses from 2014 to 2021, the amount of ten million two hundred sixty-three thousand four hundred fifteen pesos with fifty-six cents (DOP$10,263,415.56).
