Comptroller and prosecuted for the 30-S review expenses
Ecuadornews:
Seven members of the Association of Victims of 30-S will work, together with the Comptroller’s Office, in the preparation of a special examination and control over the funds that the previous Government allocated to this case.
For the comptroller Pablo Celi, it is an exercise of “truth and justice”. For 298 people prosecuted after the police revolt on September 30, 2010, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that the State used public resources to prosecute them.
This was explained on Monday, August 27, 2018, Óscar Ayerve, who heads the collective. He and six other members of the group went to the Comptroller’s Office and officially took over as inspectors of the special exam. “We are aware of the responsibility involved in the role of seekers in such a sensitive issue, which shocked the entire country. We seek to fight against corruption, impunity and the abuse of power.”
This was how they were pronounced, through a letter, by the other observers: Gerardo Zapata, Francisco Guzman, Humberto Chichambe Yépez, Ricardo Rengifo, Patricio Simancas and Patricia Santillán.
According to Ayerve, the audit will include the expenses of the National Secretariat of Communication (Secom) and public media that were used for the dissemination of a communication campaign on the subject.
Another aspect that will be addressed by the Comptroller’s Office is the money spent for the festivities of 30-S, in the different anniversaries that were held from 2011 to 2016. For example, one year after the protest, a documentary about the fact in the country and also in Madrid, through the Ecuadorian Embassy and in whose preparation participated on the fourth anniversary, the Government unveiled a plaque in honor of Juan Pablo Bolaños, one of the five who died in the protests.
In the School of Training of Soldiers (Esforse), a monument was also erected: a bust in honor of the soldier Darwin Panchi, one of the murdered. For Zapata, another of the seekers, the core part of the audit will be to review the reserved expenses of the National Intelligence Secretariat (Senain) and the funds that supposedly went to the 30-S Commission, which was integrated by Óscar Bonilla, Diego Guzmán and Carlos Baca Mancheno.
On this there is already an investigation in the Prosecutor’s Office of Pichincha against Baca. This file was initiated based on a report detailing alleged payments to the members of this commission, despite the fact that their work was unpaid. However, Celi has confirmed that such a document does not exist. That is why now the members of the 30-S collective ask that it be established if the ex-employees received money from the Senain or not for their work.
In addition to reviewing the funds, the members of the Association requested that the Comptroller’s Office act in favor of the cancellation of the glosses that were imposed on the military and police forces, due to the paralysis of public services.
According to one of the glossed officers, who is still a member of the Ecuadorian Air Force, the Comptroller’s office deducted USD 3 326 from his salary. This is despite the fact that he was declared innocent in a lawsuit for paralyzing public services. “The only evidence against me was that that day I worked in the Transportation Wing No. 11, of the Mariscal Sucre Air Base,” said the official, who asked not to mention his name.
The injured say that in total 320 military and police of the canine group were glossed with that amount. This amounts to USD 1 032 320, whose restitution is now requested. In the judicial field, the Prosecutor’s Office has opened 74 cases in which it has investigated crimes such as suspension of public services, attack against the internal security of the State, insubordination, sedition, incitement to rebellion and others.
22 people have been found guilty and 76 were confirmed their innocence. A group of these people, who identified themselves as persecuted politicians, went to the Council of the Transitional Judiciary to present their cases and get the agency to recognize them as victims of justice.
For the collective, the work of the Judiciary and the Office of the Comptroller General “is a moment of hope, that due process is applied, justice is done and those responsible are punished with a great farce.”
In context
The government of former President Rafael Correa has assured that the 30-S was an attempted coup d’état and that that day he was kidnapped and tried to assassinate him. In addition to the military and police, lawyers, political activists and social leaders were also prosecuted. (I)
Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/contraloria-auditoria-enjuiciados-30s-gastos.html