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Court of Cassation will announce the resolution on Monday, September 7
Posted On 04 Sep 2020
Next Monday, September 7, the Court of Cassation of the National Court of Justice will read the resolution of the sentence for the 2012-2016 Bribery case.
Court of Cassation will announce the resolution on Monday, September 7
The Court will convene the procedural parties at 3:00 p.m. This, after the magistrates deliberated for approximately 30 minutes.
The call was officially notified to the Attorney General Diana Salazar , as well as to the legal representatives.
Before this diligence, through telematic means, former President Rafael Correa, the main defendant for the case, witnessed the diligence.
The Court allowed him to give his version in which he indicated that he never received a bribe and that this process is a “political persecution” . He added that for this reason families are being destroyed for trying to blame him.
He added that the files were manipulated and that there was procedural fraud on the part of Judge Iván León with the secretary Martha Caiza of the State Attorney General’s Office.
On an amount of $ 6,000 that he received, he indicated that he received this amount from the Solidarity Fund, a figure that he paid down to the last penny.
Finally, Correa urged the judges to search for the truth. “Gentlemen magistrates in your hands is stopping. Interpol rejects everything, Belgium laughs at them. Do not mess with honest businessmen, it is in their hands to do justice and change history ”.
The diligence took place after yesterday, Thursday, September 3, the defense arguments of the defendants were heard; later, the reply by Diana Salazar, Attorney General of the Nation and Íñigo Salvador, Attorney General of the State , as private accuser.
The Court of Cassation gave each of the defense attorneys five minutes to make a reply.
After the hearing, the magistrates will have up to three days to issue a resolution, as determined by the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP). The judges can annul the penalty, reduce it or ratify it.
The replies were presented by the defenders of former President Rafael Correa, former Minister Vinicio Alvarado, Viviana Bonilla, Víctor Fontana; as well as Alexis Mera, Édgar Salas and Bolívar Sánchez, among others.
Alfonso Zambrano Pasquel, Correa’s lawyer , pointed out that his client commissioned his advisor Pamela Martínez to carry out a legal activity. He assured that he did not depart from his role and his functions.
He said that the objective imputation should be reviewed. He added that the perpetrator has control of the fact; the researcher does not. And he requested, again, that the sentence of innocence be married for his client.
Cristian Romero, defense of former vice president Jorge Glas , requested to marry the sentence, as the factual and legal assumptions had not been justified.
Pamela Martínez’s lawyer, Felix Zamora, also reiterated his request to marry the sentence, noting that his client has collaborated with justice. He also requested that the state of innocence be ratified.
Other aftershocks during the diligence
Of the defendants, the sentence of eight years in prison, issued on July 22, was ratified for María de los Ángeles Duarte, former Minister of Transportation and Public Works , as co-author of aggravated bribery. As for Walter Solis, former Minister of Transport and former Senagua , under the same position.
The same sentence will be served for Rafael Córdova, Metco’s representative , and for Alberto Hidalgo, from the Hidalgo & Hidalgo company , both as direct perpetrators of aggravated bribery.
In the proceedings, Diego Correa, Duarte’s lawyer, appeared, saying that the sentence does not have a factual theory, which generated defenselessness.
Solis’ defense said that the Attorney General’s Office did not prove that the crime was committed on the immediate responsibility of the crimes of the breach of duty.
Israel Montenegro, Hidalgo’s lawyer, instead pointed out that his client was the only sentenced employee.
He recalled that he is not a director or shareholder of the aforementioned companies, for which he indicated that he cannot be charged.
Pablo Encalada, defender of Rafael Córdova, indicated that his client made contributions to the campaign, as did other people. (I)
