Corruption in the Correa government leaves 16 fugitives

Ecuadornews:

Among them are the former president, ex-ministers and exalted officials of the regime of the Citizen Revolution. As the trials progress, the number grows.

Although one year and eight months have passed since the functions were completed, the government of former President Rafael Correa still makes news, but this time for acts of corruption.

At least 24 complaints against the former president have been received by the Prosecutor’s Office and a score against those who were part of his work team. Parallel in the courts of the country there are judicial processes underway, but nine are the most advanced.

As a result of them, 16 former officials fled the country, after being sentenced to prison. One of the first to flee was the cousin of former President Correa, Pedro Delgado, fugitive since December 2012, when he was prosecuted for illicit enrichment and falsification of his title.

The then president said at that time that his cousin traveled to Miami to attend the wedding of his son and said he would return, but so far has not returned. The former State Comptroller, Carlos Pólit, left the country to Miami on May 26 and reported health problems. He is prosecuted for the crime of concussion of receiving more than $ 6 million from the Brazilian Odebrecht. The arrest warrant against him was issued in June 2017.

The ex-manager of PDVSA in Ecuador, Alexis Arellano Meléndez, left for Venezuela in September 2016. He is part of the people prosecuted for the alleged crime of conspiracy in the Odebrecht case.

For the same case and to be called to trial, the Venezuelan Freddy Salas Neuman also fled in November 2015. The Ecuadorian businessman Ricky Dávalos Oviedo, also linked in this case of Odebrecht, would have left Ecuador in 2016.

Another of those claimed by the justice is the former Minister of Transport and former Secretary of Water, Walter Solis. A prior investigation was opened in 2013 for a possible case of embezzlement when he was in charge of the Water Secretariat.

Also, from August 19, 2017, the Police is looking for the former director of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS) and former Minister of Industries Ramiro González. He is called to trial for influence peddling.

The ex-servant of the Ministry of the Interior, María Christiansen and her ex-husband Eduardo Naranjo, join the list of fugitives. They are investigated in a case of illicit association “in the degree of concussion”. On July 3, 2018, Daniella Camacho, a national judge, handed down pre-trial detention to former President Rafael Correa, linked to the kidnapping case against Fernando Balda.

At that date the former president resided in Belgium, from where he announced that he will not return to the country. In the same case, against the former national secretary of intelligence, Pablo Romero, he was remanded in custody, but he was already residing in Spain.

Carlos Pareja Cordero and his son Carlos Pareja Dassum were called to trial, on May 18, 2017, for alleged money laundering, in the Petroecuador case. They were detained in Peru, then they were released and when the Ecuadorian justice wanted to prosecute them, it was no longer located.

The ex-secretary of Communication Fernando Alvarado, accused of embezzlement, joins the list of fugitives. Last year he escaped dramatically by evading controls and withdrawing the electronic shackle.

Sofia Sofín, who is prosecuted for an alleged offer of influence peddling to the ex-Diana F, who is a protected witness in the Balda case, left the country at the end of 2018. Finally, Carlos Ochoa, an ex Supercom, last Thursday was ordered in custody. The former official, who left Colombia in August of last year and has not returned, is prosecuted for falsification and use of false documents. Correismo not only left as an inheritance an economic crisis, it also immersed us in a moral and institutional crisis, said the coordinator of the National Anticorruption Commission, Jorge Rodríguez. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/judicial/12/corrupcion-gobierno-correa-16-profugos