Odebrecht: divide to not find results

Ecuadornews:

There are many ways to hide. One is to put the information under the desk. Another is to subdivide the investigations to remove the plot. That is what would have happened in the Odebrecht case, according to the Anticorruption Secretary, Iván Granda.

The official was last week in Brazil with the prosecutor Ruth Palacios for the Odebrecht case. Granda says he has presumptions, which he hopes to corroborate, that “the plot (of the bribes) could have been cut, subdividing the investigations and that one investigation be an island with others”.

The official points out that what should happen in this case is that a single plot can generate the procedural truth, which is the best reconstruction of what happened. The case must have been for organized crime, he added.

During the administrations of the ex-attorneys Galo Chiriboga and Carlos Baca, several files were opened to investigate the delivery of 33.5 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company to Ecuadorian officials.

According to prosecutor Palacios, there are 11 prosecutors investigating the issue that was revealed in a report by the US Department of Justice in December 2016. Granda says that there are documents that guide that conclusion.

Palacios said that two weeks ago they started with the location of all prosecutors who have the Odebrecht cases, to hold meetings and see what each one was investigating.

The objective of the prosecutor is to accumulate, in the terms that can be, certain processes. It will seek to have five prosecutors but focused on the true objective of the investigation that is to determine criminal responsibilities, he said.

That is what one of the results of the trip to Brazil that was the release of the test. The prosecutor explained that when assistance is made, commitments are signed, there are cases in one country and another. By publishing a certain test, it can damage an investigation, he said. The Brazilian prosecutor did not object but if the request is in writing.

In addition to getting a direct contact to access information in Brazil, the prosecutor says that she was able to receive the statements of the informers José Santos and Luis Mameri and the prosecutors could ask for a video conference soon.

During the Baca administration, a six-year sentence was obtained for illicit association with former Vice President Jorge Glas, his uncle Ricardo Rivera and others. The former Comptroller Carlos Pólit received six years for concussion, the former Minister of Electricity Alecksey Mosquera was convicted for money laundering. There were previous investigations for Rivera for money laundering and for private companies that would have been the vehicle for bribes.

The commission takes shape

From Brazil he will be the first member of the International Commission for the Fight against Corruption. In the coming days President Lenin Moreno will give the information about the expert.

For the time being, that was another result of the trip made by Iván Granda, Anticorruption Secretary to Brazil for the Odebrecht case.

The official revealed that in that country last week he met with at least seven officials who helped to set up the commission.

Among the contactees are former prosecutor Rodrigo Janiot, with whom Granda assures that he shared experiences and seek that the Commission has full autonomy in the investigation, prosecution and corresponding actions in the generation of no impunity in the country.

The announcement of the formation of this international group occurred last February. On that occasion Granda announced that the investigations will focus on emblematic cases of corruption that would have caused a commotion in society that have generated great damage.

Other cases

Research to the OAS firm

The Anticorruption Secretary, Iván Granda, delivered yesterday to the Prosecutor’s Office the denunciation of the ex-accountant of the OAS company. Evidence that 9 million was paid to a front company for a consultancy that was never done in the Baba Multipurpose project.

The names under reserve

The details of the actions of OAS in Ecuador are in the denunciation. Granda says the prosecution will have to investigate by the firm, shareholders, where the money went, the authorities that were there when OAS assumes in 2010 by emergency.

The steps of Mera in Brazil

The contract that Alexis Mera announced it signed in Brazil with a law firm by Odebrecht does not exist in Ecuador. The authorities expect criminal assistance to know their conditions, what it was used for and how it was paid.

Chiriboga says yes he acted

Ex-prosecutor Galo Chiriboga said that Odebrecht responded to legal reasons and began the day following the publication of the report that involved Ecuador in bribes. Other cases came out of that investigation. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/fiscalia-corrupcion-odebrecht-investigacion-informacion-CH2678136