Donald Guerrero is under investigation for multiple crimes
The Office of the Specialized Prosecutor for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), with the support of the General Directorate of Prosecution of the Prosecutor’s Office, investigates the former Minister of Finance Donald Guerrero for the “preliminary criminal types” of criminal association, forgery, fraud against the State , bribery, coalition of officials and money laundering.
This follows from the appeal for reconsideration made by the director of Persecution, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, to an instruction from the Attorney General of the Republic, Miriam Germán Brito.
According to the request for reconsideration notified to the lawyers of Donald Guerrero, Pepca maintains an investigation of the former official, other than his possible link with the already well-known Antipulpo case, whose main defendant is Alexis Medina Sánchez, brother of the former president of the Republic, Danilo Medina Sanchez.
Since February of last year, it was reported that Attorney General Germán Brito was leading the corruption investigation involving the former Minister of Finance and the former General Manager of the Banco de Reservas Simón Lizardo Mézquita. The former official was summoned on several occasions to be questioned at the Attorney General’s Office.
In March, Judge Germán Brito gave private instructions to Deputy Attorney General Reynoso to give “Mr. Donald Guerrero access to the tax investigation file against him,” based on article 9 of the Organic Law of the Ministry Public, number 133-11.
The instruction was answered by Reynoso, supported by the same article of the aforementioned legislation, with the request to her superior to reconsider the request, since “totally open the tax file, at this stage of the process, puts at risk the research”.
“…that you please modify the particular instruction in reference, so that we are only obliged to give access to the investigated Donald Guerrero to those investigative proceedings that concern him and that are of a public nature, such as those that are evidenced in the accusation of the case known as Operation Anti-octopus, since these actions do not put that line of investigation at risk, contrary to the current process, not so the investigation that is still in process”, says the document dated April 25th, 2022.
Attorney must decide
Article 9 of Law 133-11 states: “Particular instructions must be given in writing. The official who receives them may challenge them, by reasoned writing, when he considers them to be manifestly illegal, arbitrary or inconvenient.
It then states that the request for reconsideration does not exempt the instructed official from the obligation to comply when there is danger in the delay, but that it does exonerate him from the responsibilities arising from his compliance.
“The issuing official may ratify, modify or revoke them as appropriate,” says the aforementioned article. However, although Germán Brito notified the instruction and the request for modification to Donald Guerrero’s lawyers, it has not been reported whether his act was ratified or revoked, as established by the internal regulations of the Public Ministry.
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Reynoso’s request, notified to Guerrero’s lawyers, refers to the fact that, together with Pepca, they proceeded to completely reserve the investigation phase. This, based on the fact that, according to the approach of the director of the Persecution, during the investigation various situations have arisen, different from the investigation that was carried out for the Anti-Octopus case.
Due to these situations, she assures, Donald Guerrero has not been summoned nor has any coercive measure been imposed on him.
However, Eduardo Núñez, a lawyer of former Finance Minister Donald Guerrero, maintains that it makes no sense to keep the investigation’s fiscal file secret, since his client does have coercive measures.
“The reservation of the investigation more than 18 months after it began, having practiced coercive measures (such as summons, interrogation and the impediment of departure through migratory alerts) lacks legal meaning, in addition to being illegal for contravening the provisions of article 291 of the Criminal Procedure Code”.