Previous Story
Alvarado’s escape calls into question institutional trust
Posted On 23 Oct 2018
Ecuadornews:
The escape of the ex-secretary of Communication, Fernando Alvarado, rekindled the misgivings about the subsistence of people in the state apparatus who would remain loyal and ready to act in complicity with officials of the previous government.
The finger on the wound was put yesterday by the president of the National Assembly, Elizabeth Cabezas, who said that the evasion of Alvarado, which is investigated for the alleged crime of embezzlement, cannot be considered as an individual act or in which only people participated from the closest environment of the fugitive.
“This is a situation that would not have been possible, if there had been no complicit actions of other institutions,” said Cabezas, who announced that, from the Legislative, he will take the actions to make political control of all the officials they were in charge of the surveillance of the secretary of the Government of Rafael Correa.
These suspicions, which for more than one are evident, caused that President Lenin Moreno summoned yesterday an urgent meeting with the presidents of the functions of the State. The meeting was attended by Julio César Trujillo, from the Council of Transitory Participation, Marcelo Merlo, from the Council of the Judicature (e) and Cabezas by the Assembly.
But other officials who have a part in the matter also attended, such as the president of the National Court of Justice, Paulina Aguirre; the prosecutor Íñigo Salvador; the comptroller Pablo Celi and the prosecutor Paúl Pérez.
Towards the latter all the warrants were addressed at the end of the meeting that lasted about four hours. Celi said that the functions of the State asked the Prosecutor’s Office for greater force in dealing with persons investigated in cases of corruption.
“Faced with this seriousness that harms the integrity of the processes of judging responsibilities, we proceed to establish the most severe and sufficient precautionary measures to ensure that the processes for crimes against public resources conclude with sanctions,” said Celi.
Last Saturday, Alvarado reported that he was no longer in Ecuador and was heading to another country that had granted him an asylum. This meant that the electronic tracking device that had been on August 9 had been removed. The device was found in a ravine on Simon Bolivar Avenue, east of Quito.
In this regard, President Moreno said that the entire chain of responsibility for social rehabilitation of the former Ministry of Justice was dismissed. Also to the operators of the integrated system ECU-911 that were in charge of monitoring the electronic shackle.
The president also ordered the secretary of Policy Management, Paul Granda, to put all the corresponding complaints, in the State Attorney General, to investigate all persons suspected of flight. These complaints were filed yesterday afternoon.
The details
Revision
The national judge Silvia Sanchez called for tomorrow, at 10:00, a hearing to review the precautionary measures that weigh on Fernando Alvarado. The request was made by the prosecutor Paúl Pérez, who warns in his writing a breach of one of the alternative measures to preventive detention.
Urgent Act
César Montúfar asked yesterday that the Public Prosecutor’s Office execute an urgent act to prevent the exit of the country from those involved in the investigation of organized crime in the plot of Odebrecht. In addition, it is prohibited to transfer assets to two former prosecutors, an ex-procurator and an assembly member.
Can the Executive request precautionary measures?
Pablo Encalada
Lawyer, master’s degree in Criminal Law.
“They are demagogic and empty declarations, because what they are saying cannot be fulfilled and is out of reality. The request for precautionary measures only belongs to the Prosecutor’s Office. “
Carlos Estarellas
Doctor of Jurisprudence.
“It is a power that does not correspond. The Executive had the control of Alvarado, which does not remove the shackle, know where it is, the other is attribution of the Judicial Function.
Gonzalo Realpe
Criminal lawyer.
“Alvarado was already banned from leaving the country, pretrial detention must be ordered, but there is no political will for Alvarado to be imprisoned. They prefer him outside prisoner. “
Julio César Sarango
Doctor of Jurisprudence.
“They have no idea what they say. The precautionary measures are available to judges at the request of the Prosecutor. What they said is only to get out of the predicament they are in.” (I)
