Commission will help identify ways to recover stolen money

Ecuadornews:

The entity is composed of experts with extensive experience in corruption issues, including participating in the investigation of cases such as Odebrecht or “Chapo” Guzmán and the creation of anti-corruption agencies.

RELATED NEWS Commissioners talk about corruption in seminar Guatemala has its anti-corruption body since 2007 The Executive took another step in the fight against corruption to form an international commission composed of five experts from different countries, on issues of policy creation to prevent and face the problem.

The experience of these people will make it possible to structure policies that help expedite the processes and seek the identification of ways to find and recover the money that was taken and hidden by corrupt officials.

Thus, President Lenin Moreno reaffirmed his commitment to effectively fight the corrupt, “that in addition to stealing the resources of Ecuadorians, they damaged the country’s institutions for more than a decade”.

During the appointment ceremony, held on Monday May 13 in the Chapel of Man, in Quito, the President recalled that now Ecuador has independent institutions “that will do the work that is theirs with absolute freedom and autonomy.” That made it possible to manage, with the help of the United Nations (UN), the formation of the Commission that was formalized with the signing of an executive decree.

The entity will operate in Ecuador for 90 days and may extend its period for another three months. The Commission is made up of Stacy De la Torre, from the United States; Nicolás Rodríguez García, from Spain; Claudia Escobar, from Guatemala; Vladimir Aras, from Brazil; and Carlos Hernández, from Honduras.

Its objectives are to advise and strengthen the State institutions that are in charge of preventing, investigating and punishing acts of corruption. They will also observe the effectiveness of the system for receiving complaints, control, audit and inspection, as well as the recovery of stolen resources.

In addition, they will articulate with civil society the comprehensive fight against corruption and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will be integrated into the Commission with a secretariat. From left to right: Carlos Hernández.

Bachelor in pedagogy from the University of Honduras; specialist in design, monitoring and evaluation of social projects. Co-founder and leader of the Association for a More Just Society, currently a chapter of Transparency International. Stacy De la Torre.

Attorney of the Department of Justice of the United States; He participated in the money laundering cases of Odebrecht and Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán. He supported the creation of the first units of the anti-corruption program of the Mexican Police.

Nicolás Rodríguez-García. Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Salamanca in Spain. 2018 TI-Spain Award and Council of Spanish Lawyers for Transparency and the Fight against Corruption. Director of the Center for Global Governance.

Claudia Escobar Lawyer graduated from the University of Guatemala, PhD from the University of Barcelona, ​​academic from Harvard University. Expert in corruption issues, strengthening of judicial systems and development of public sector capacities. Vladimir Aras.

Director of Legislative Affairs of the Association of Prosecutors of Brazil, former fiscal head of international cooperation in the period of greatest activity of Lava Jato (2013-2017), instructor of the anti-money laundering program.

The anti-corruption secretary of the Presidency, Iván Granda, recalled how in the country the bribes were normalized and, likewise, corruption became the DNA of the institutionality of the country. ” The actions of the bad officials placed Ecuador in fourth place among the most corrupt nations. “27% of the population believes that the premium is justified as long as there is work,” said Granda.

Commissioner Hernandez highlighted the importance of these steps in the country in the fight against corruption. “It is a scourge that is attacking the entire region, the novelty here is the consolidation of a political will to end this evil.”

He explained that the corrupt are usually effective in the coordination to commit crimes, however, the institutions that face these criminal acts sometimes have bureaucratic systems that make them inefficient. In this aspect, the Commission will act to find faster ways out in the judgments, according to the legal system, “so that there is no impunity, because this generates that the cases keep repeating,” said the expert. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/comision-internacional-anticorrupcion-onu-ecuador