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For the third time, the trial of Carlos Pareja is postponed
Posted On 11 Sep 2017
Ecuadornews:
The third attempt failed. Former Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Pareja Yannuzzelli, detained in jail 4 of Quito, was to be tried today, at 08:45, for alleged illicit enrichment. The hearing had to take place in the National Court of Justice.
Judge Zulema Pachacama (replacing Luis Enríquez for vacation) accepted the request of Attorney General Carlos Baca to defer the hearing. This is the third time that Baca requires it, according to the system of the Judicial Function.
Enríquez set the first attempt to judge Pareja for June 5, but on June 1st, Baca requested the postponement. A second attempt was scheduled for August 3, but Baca once again asked its delay for July 31.
On August 25 Judge Enríquez called for the third time for the trial to begin today, but last Friday, the day Pareja signed the effective cooperation agreement, Baca asked for the referral. Pachacama accepted the request and had not yet set a new date.
The former minister returned to the country last August 11 because of the efforts promoted by the Legislature’s president José Serrano. He offered to disclose everything he knows about the alleged acts of corruption in the Petroecuador and Odebrecht cases.
The former official will receive benefits as a reduction of penalties in cases that were opened against him (at least four for bribery, embezzlement, organized crime and illicit enrichment).
But the Prosecutor´s office was clear with those benefits. Pareja can only request them “when the truth of the information provided has been verified irrefutably.” (I)
