NewsWhore
01-09-2009, 03:10 PM
The prosecutor of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York City is preparing to convene a Grand Jury that will listen, in a preliminary secret hearing, to probable causes and could recommend arrest warrants to judge Kimba M. Wood in order to proceed with the process of extradition requests against other people implicated in the now famous drug trafficking case against former Dominican Army captain Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, according to a source in the court.
Meanwhile there is said to be a lot of nervousness spreading across different sectors of the DR, following suspicions that certain individuals who have been named by Quirino could be included in the extradition requests.
The process is in the secret phase and this means that the decisions by the Grand Jury that studies the evidence presented by the prosecutors will remain "sealed," and, therefore, not available to the media or the public, until the arrests are made and later the accused will be formally charged in court.
"We do not have any information about the case, and we can't talk about what the Grand Jury is or is not doing; this is strictly confidential", said assistant federal prosecutor John O'Donnell through the press officer of the prosecutor's office, Janice Oh.
After the Grand Jury decides whether arrest warrants are needed, the Office of International Relations of the Justice Department and at the request of the District Attorney, the extradition requests will be sent through diplomatic channels, either the Dominican embassy in Washington or the Dominican Foreign Ministry. From there the requests go to the Dominican Republic General Prosecutor, the agency that should implement the arrest warrants and later present the case to the Supreme Court which will then decide who will be extradited to the United States.
Later, the Executive Branch has to sign or reject the decrees that authorize the requested handing over of the accused. It has been said that even though the former captain has cut a deal and handed over a list of more than 30 names, the process is not that simple or swift, especially in cases that involve people implicated in international narcotics trafficking. These technical details have not been well explained by local lawyers who practice in the Dominican Republic or by the Dominican journalists who are following the process.
This information was leaked by someone connected to the intelligence service of the Washington police who was working with some Dominican officials on investigative strategies to assist in verifying the list presented by Quirino in New York.
Within the Dominican community in New York there is a lot of expectation about who the next people to be extradited are likely to be and even though it was expected that the list, as was rumored some months ago, would include some political figures from the three major parties, Quirino's lawyer in Santo Domingo Carlos Balcacer stated that the former military officer has been "careful" not to involve anyone in the Dominican political leadership in his list.
According to the source, "The number of people who could possibly be extradited will depend on whether the Grand Jury feels that the alleged proof submitted by the prosecutors is sufficient or not." The same person said that just because it was Quirino himself who supplied the list, it does not necessarily mean that all of them can be accused the same way. He also pointed out that the category, quantity and degree of the accusations could vary depending on the situation. Meanwhile, panic continues to spread in different parts of the DR and in areas outside of normal procedures, the "morbid" are beginning to suggest names that could have been mentioned by the extradited former officer, who has been in jail since 2005.
With the exception of Fatima Henriquez Diaz, everyone implicated in the case has cut a deal with the Federal prosecutors in exchange for lighter sentences.
The plea deal implies the collaboration requested by the US authorities, with the idea of establishing the size and workings of the drug trafficking machinery that operated in the Dominican Republic, including who did the work and under whose protection.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
Meanwhile there is said to be a lot of nervousness spreading across different sectors of the DR, following suspicions that certain individuals who have been named by Quirino could be included in the extradition requests.
The process is in the secret phase and this means that the decisions by the Grand Jury that studies the evidence presented by the prosecutors will remain "sealed," and, therefore, not available to the media or the public, until the arrests are made and later the accused will be formally charged in court.
"We do not have any information about the case, and we can't talk about what the Grand Jury is or is not doing; this is strictly confidential", said assistant federal prosecutor John O'Donnell through the press officer of the prosecutor's office, Janice Oh.
After the Grand Jury decides whether arrest warrants are needed, the Office of International Relations of the Justice Department and at the request of the District Attorney, the extradition requests will be sent through diplomatic channels, either the Dominican embassy in Washington or the Dominican Foreign Ministry. From there the requests go to the Dominican Republic General Prosecutor, the agency that should implement the arrest warrants and later present the case to the Supreme Court which will then decide who will be extradited to the United States.
Later, the Executive Branch has to sign or reject the decrees that authorize the requested handing over of the accused. It has been said that even though the former captain has cut a deal and handed over a list of more than 30 names, the process is not that simple or swift, especially in cases that involve people implicated in international narcotics trafficking. These technical details have not been well explained by local lawyers who practice in the Dominican Republic or by the Dominican journalists who are following the process.
This information was leaked by someone connected to the intelligence service of the Washington police who was working with some Dominican officials on investigative strategies to assist in verifying the list presented by Quirino in New York.
Within the Dominican community in New York there is a lot of expectation about who the next people to be extradited are likely to be and even though it was expected that the list, as was rumored some months ago, would include some political figures from the three major parties, Quirino's lawyer in Santo Domingo Carlos Balcacer stated that the former military officer has been "careful" not to involve anyone in the Dominican political leadership in his list.
According to the source, "The number of people who could possibly be extradited will depend on whether the Grand Jury feels that the alleged proof submitted by the prosecutors is sufficient or not." The same person said that just because it was Quirino himself who supplied the list, it does not necessarily mean that all of them can be accused the same way. He also pointed out that the category, quantity and degree of the accusations could vary depending on the situation. Meanwhile, panic continues to spread in different parts of the DR and in areas outside of normal procedures, the "morbid" are beginning to suggest names that could have been mentioned by the extradited former officer, who has been in jail since 2005.
With the exception of Fatima Henriquez Diaz, everyone implicated in the case has cut a deal with the Federal prosecutors in exchange for lighter sentences.
The plea deal implies the collaboration requested by the US authorities, with the idea of establishing the size and workings of the drug trafficking machinery that operated in the Dominican Republic, including who did the work and under whose protection.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)