The judiciary decided to “declare the procedural nullity of all acts following the filing of a complaint with the attorney general’s office” in 2019, in the context of the “Singue” case, which involved the alleged misuse of public funds in the context of a contract in the oil sector, according to her announcement.
Ecuador’s judiciary on Thursday overturned the criminal prosecution and conviction for misappropriation of public funds against former Vice President Jorge Glass, a decision that may lead to his release from prison, even though he has been convicted of two other corruption cases.
The judiciary decided to “declare the procedural nullity of all acts following the filing of a complaint with the attorney general’s office” in 2019, in the context of the “Singue” case, which involved the alleged misuse of public funds in the context of a contract in the oil sector, according to her announcement.
One of the official reports on which the prosecution was based is considered to “no longer exist legally”, the justice considers it “without any validity and illegal”.
The decision means that the sentence imposed on Jorge Glass at first instance in 2021 — 8 years in prison — are suspended, the sentences imposed on two former ministers (Wilson Pastor, Carlos Pareja), as well as the sentences on four other former government officials of the socialist former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
The justice allowed the defense of the former vice president to submit a request for his early release, as he has served 40% of the sentences imposed on him in two other corruption cases after they were merged. Mr. Glass could not benefit from the consolidation of all his sentences, as all remedies had not been exhausted in the Singue case.
Mr Glass was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of taking bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. He was then sentenced to another eight years in prison after being convicted in a second trial on charges of soliciting bribes from businessmen in exchange for the award of public contracts. In the same trial, former president Rafael Correa was convicted in absentia.
Mr. Correa has been living in Belgium, his wife’s home country, since 2017, where he secured political refugee status in April.
“Today that we have secured the annulment, that this process and the sentence for the ‘Singue’ case no longer exist, I believe” that justice will proceed “to merge the sentences and, obviously, to early release,” said his lawyer Jorge Glass, Edison Loaisa, on the Teleamazonas television network.
The former vice president, who is serving time in a prison in Quito, was released in April on health grounds, a decision revoked in May.
The public prosecutor’s office expressed in its own statement “deep concern” about the court’s decision.
As a decision declaring procedural nullity cannot be appealed, the prosecutor’s office will proceed “to horizontal appeals provided for by law” and “will continue the investigation.”
According to the prosecution, the “Singue” case caused a loss of US$28.4 million to the state of Ecuador due to errors in the calculation of the country’s crude oil reserves.
RES-EMP
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