He National Health Insurance (Senasa) formalized a complaint against three former directors of the Cibao Regional Oncology Institute (IORC), within the framework of the investigation into the alleged irregular handling of more than RD$3,700 million that would have been transferred by that insurance entity to the health center.
The legal action was presented during the hearing to learn about the coercive measure against the defendants, which was postponed again by decision of the court.
Senasa is among the main institutions affected by the alleged irregularities detected in the administration of resources intended for the provision of health services.
At the end of the hearing, the court attorney Minar Ortizrepresentative of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), stated that the Public Ministry is prepared to hear the request for a coercive measure and attributed the new postponement to situations related to the defense of some of the accused.
He explained that the lawyers of the accused Luisa Guzmán and Héctor Lora claimed that they were not in a position to continue with the process. In Guzmán’s case, his legal representative appeared for the first time at the hearing, while Lora’s lawyer did not appear in court.
Given this situation, the judge warned Héctor Lora’s defense that he must appear at the next hearing, scheduled for Tuesday the 23rd at 4:30 in the afternoon, under warning of declaring the abandonment of the defense.
Ortiz highlighted that Senasa presented a formal accusation as a victim within the judicial process, considering that it was one of the entities most harmed by the actions being investigated at the Cibao Regional Oncology Institute.
The representative of the Public Ministry also revealed that investigations remain open and did not rule out new raids and arrests related to the case.
“We always start investigations with these processes, but the investigations continue. There will be more raids and more arrests because the investigation is still ongoing,” he said.
On his side, the lawyer Ricardo Reinarepresentative of one of the accused, confirmed that the hearing was rescheduled for next Tuesday due to the absence of Héctor Lora’s lawyer and the need for the parties to be aware of the complaint filed by Senasa.
Reina maintained that her client was prepared to learn about the coercive measure, but that the judge considered it appropriate to grant an additional period to guarantee the right of defense and knowledge of the new documentation added to the file.
Meanwhile, the lawyer Joan Newton López, representative of the Cibao Regional Oncology Institute, assessed Senasa’s decision to become a civil actor in the process as reasonable.
“It seems quite logical to us, because Senasa is among the main affected and, at the same time, these are resources that impact the Dominican State,” he said.
He Public Ministry accuses those involved of committing alleged irregularities in the administration of public funds intended for patient care, in a case that has generated great attention due to the volume of resources under investigation and the possible implications for the health system.
