NewsWhore
11-19-2009, 05:20 PM
This week's edition of Clave newspaper comments on the absence of a criminal policy that coordinates between the country's criminal prosecution bodies - judiciary (Supreme Court), Police, National Drug Control Department and the Prosecutor General office.
The editorial makes the point that in the case of Sobeida Feliz, the fugitive alleged lover of a leading drug dealer who is also on the run, the government is a suspect. "Someone with power and logistical capacity helped her become invisible, within or outside the country," it writes. "The search is exaggerated, and the media interest that it has provoked. A judge is investigated because she applied the Penal Procedure Code with benevolence, and now the judicial system is being questioned.
The Prosecutor General took 3 weeks to request a travel ban aimed at preventing her from leaving the country.
"All the security systems suffered the escape of the main culprit, Jose Figueroa Agosto, who had already escaped from a Puerto Rican prison. Nonetheless, in the DR he operated with total freedom and plenty of good connections, and could even have made investments in the political arena. That is rarely known or talked about."
Clave wonders why there is no talk about finding Figueroa Agosto, the person accused of owning the US$4.6 million cash found in an SUV, and the owner of two luxury apartments on Av. Mexico. The newspaper says that is what could Sobeida be accused of if found. "Of money laundering, tax evasion, organized crime, associating with criminals? "Isn't that something we see every day in this country, politicians included?"
The newspaper comments that President Leonel Fernandez complained about the failure of the government crime prosecution bodies. But then it asks... "What is the difference between the case of Sobeida and other fraud and crime cases, even the case of Quirino Paulino Castillo?
"In the Quirino case we sent it to the US and desisted from judging it in the country. The relatives were sent abroad, protected by a special US government program, and in return the DR has not received any benefit to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking, with the exception of US$14 million confiscated from Quirino. And perhaps the same will happen in the case of Sobeida and Figueroa Agosto. All because of our institutional weakness."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
The editorial makes the point that in the case of Sobeida Feliz, the fugitive alleged lover of a leading drug dealer who is also on the run, the government is a suspect. "Someone with power and logistical capacity helped her become invisible, within or outside the country," it writes. "The search is exaggerated, and the media interest that it has provoked. A judge is investigated because she applied the Penal Procedure Code with benevolence, and now the judicial system is being questioned.
The Prosecutor General took 3 weeks to request a travel ban aimed at preventing her from leaving the country.
"All the security systems suffered the escape of the main culprit, Jose Figueroa Agosto, who had already escaped from a Puerto Rican prison. Nonetheless, in the DR he operated with total freedom and plenty of good connections, and could even have made investments in the political arena. That is rarely known or talked about."
Clave wonders why there is no talk about finding Figueroa Agosto, the person accused of owning the US$4.6 million cash found in an SUV, and the owner of two luxury apartments on Av. Mexico. The newspaper says that is what could Sobeida be accused of if found. "Of money laundering, tax evasion, organized crime, associating with criminals? "Isn't that something we see every day in this country, politicians included?"
The newspaper comments that President Leonel Fernandez complained about the failure of the government crime prosecution bodies. But then it asks... "What is the difference between the case of Sobeida and other fraud and crime cases, even the case of Quirino Paulino Castillo?
"In the Quirino case we sent it to the US and desisted from judging it in the country. The relatives were sent abroad, protected by a special US government program, and in return the DR has not received any benefit to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking, with the exception of US$14 million confiscated from Quirino. And perhaps the same will happen in the case of Sobeida and Figueroa Agosto. All because of our institutional weakness."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)