(Bloomberg) -- More than a dozen politicians and former cabinet members in the Dominican Republic — including a former finance minister and a presidential candidate — were arrested on corruption charges in what the government called “Operation Squid.”
In a statement Sunday, the Attorney General’s office said 300 National Police had raided 40 separate locations Saturday night and detained several former high-ranking officials.
Among those detained were former Finance Minister Donald Guerrero, former Minister of Public Works and 2020 presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo, former Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta, and Former Comptroller Daniel Omar Caamano.
All the men served under President Danilo Medina, who led the nation from 2012-2020. Local newspaper Listin Diario reported that Medina — who was not named in the statement — has been in New York since Thursday. Calls to the Dominican Liberation Party, with which many of the men were affiliated, were not immediately answered.
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In addition, officials said they had arrested the former director of the national property registry, and two former directors of the casino and gaming commission.
Preliminary charges include fraud, falsifying public and private documents, bribery, money laundering and “illegal campaign financing on an unprecedented scale,” the Attorney General’s office said.
President Luis Abinader took office in 2020 promising to root out what he said was deep-rooted public corruption.
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