Ecuadornews:
The Office of the Prosecutor follows the investigation of alleged illegal contributions to campaigns of 2013 and 2014. The presidential adviser Santiago Cuesta gave more information.
The first time he appeared was in the trial that sentenced him for the Odebrecht corruption scandal. Now she emerges as one of the PAIS Alianza donors in the “Arroz Verde” case. In 2017, Muentes qualified as “government manager” of the then Second President.
She told the Prosecutor’s Office that she was in charge of preparing memory aids, official presentations and coordinating possible Glas meetings. According to Odebrecht’s informer, José Concençiao Santos, she arranged her meetings with the former vice-president in 2016, when the payment of bribes was made in exchange for contracts with the State.
“Olga Muentes sent me messages saying that Mr. Glas was going to receive the day,” said the Brazilian in his confession to the National Court of Justice. After the trial, the trail of Muentes was lost, until the denunciation of supposed illegal contributions to the campaign of 2013 arose, that took to Glas to the Vice-presidency, and for the contest of 2014.
Olga Muentes is in the reports given by Alliance COUNTRY in the liquidation of expenses of the presidential binomial. According to that document, she gave $ 5,000 to the campaign. For Fernando Villavicencio, author of the report that uncovered the scandal, she could be part of the plot of concealment.
According to the emails that rest in the Office of the Prosecutor, a person with the code name of OM took the accounts of the money requested from national and foreign companies to finance the campaign without registering them in the National Electoral Council.
This deduction is given because in the code the first letters of the names and surnames of those involved were used. For example, the presidential ex-adviser, Pamela M., allegedly carried the code name PM.
Eduardo Franco Loor, of the defense of former Vice President Glas, ruled out that Olga Muentes has been treasurer of these monies linked to the case of “Arroz Verde”. “She declared in the process of illicit association that she was an officer of the Vice Presidency.
It has nothing to do with Jorge Glas, because he was not a tax collector, nor treasurer, nor anything in the electoral campaign of Alianza PAÍS, “he said. He also said that the request of $ 1,500,000 to Odebrecht to finance presidential campaigns by Ricardo Rivera, uncle of Glas, and who is serving a sentence in Latacunga, is false. “It is false because in the testimony of Conceição Santos he said that Odebrecht had not deposited in the campaign.” Not only was Muentes one of the donors close to Glas in the 2013 campaign.
The list also includes the name of former Sofia Sofín. She was with Glas in the Ministry of Telecommunications; then in Strategic Sectors and in the Vice Presidency until 2017. In that year, Espín was launched to a seat in Guayas. In the same vein is Sergio Ruiz, who worked with Glas in the Vice Presidency and was one of those summoned to give his testimony.
New documentation
The Office of the Prosecutor continues with the instruction to determine the alleged illegal contributions. Yesterday, the presidential adviser Santiago Cuesta delivered more documentation.
Cuesta said that this information arrived anonymously and it verifies that the journalistic portals that revealed the scandal omitted names of companies and public officials.
A new publication of the portal Milhojas, says that in the list of former officials highlights the former Secretary of Public Administration, Vinicio Alvarado, considered one of the closest men to Correa.
Alvarado and his brother Fernando face an investigation in the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged money laundering. The file tries to verify if they used advertising companies that had contracts with the State to benefit personally.
Also on this list was the ex-Secretary of Alianza PAIS, Galo Mora, as head of money management for the national convention in Cuenca, in November 2013. (I)
Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/fiscalia-investigacion-caso-arrozverde
