Gabela case: a ‘typing error’ almost saves Serrano

Ecuadornews:

In the final report of the parliamentary commission investigatingthe Gabela case, a typographical error slipped. “Of tipeo”, said theofficial César Litardo, president of said commission. What mistake was that?One very common: the name of José Serrano, one of the ex-ministers allegedlyinvolved in the cover-up of the murder, fell out of the report. Simply, Serranodid not appear mentioned. From “typing”? Several members of the Commission (Jeannine Cruz, César Rohón, Sebastián Palacios) put the cry in thesky: if the first draft of the report was not approved in the session onMonday, it was precisely because its conclusions did not include the names ofthose responsible. Put into evidence, Litardo hastened to correct the wrong.

So it took three attempts: a first report, presented on Monday, inwhich the names of the officials of the Interinstitutional Committee thatreceived the full report of the expert Roberto Meza did not appear anywhere; asecond report, issued on Wednesday at 20:50, which included all but JoséSerrano’s (why him?); and the third and final that, at the close of thisedition, the Commission was preparing to meet and that will have been approvedat the stroke of midnight, with the probable opposition of Marcela Aguiñaga.

In that document, finally, they all appear: Lenin Lara, José Serrano, Ledy Zúñiga, Homero Arellano, Fernando Cordero, César Navas, María Fernanda Espinosa, Diego Guzmán, Vinicio Alvarado, Christian Castillo, Paola Carrera, Geovanna Palacios. They all know who, according to the expert opinion, are the intellectual authors of the murder of Gabela. And they keep quiet. The parliamentary commission accuses them of negligence and secrecy.

The name of José Serrano again circulated insistently yesterday about the last minute information received on Monday in the commission. It is a folder of documents that demonstrate how the ex-adviser of the Intelligence Secretariat Javier Molina Bonilla also acted as representative of Mossack Fonseca (the signature of the Panama Papers) and helped to set up the company Sumil (representative of HAL, the manufacturer of the Dhruv helicopters) in the tax haven of the state of Nevada. In an interview with Teleamazonas, César Litardo said that information came “through Assemblywoman Jeannine Cruz.” The aforementioned denies it. What the members of the commission take for granted is that it was Serrano who submitted those documents. Why at the last minute?

For the rest, the final report of the Commission won in force with respect to the previous draft that was discussed on Monday. In this new document, the words “State crime” are mentioned twice; there is talk of “participation of organized crime in the murder” of Gabela; he realizes the “strange relations” between the leadership of the Armed Forces and the companies selling weapons, which even had access to internal documents of the FAE; it is related how Roberto Meza’s expertise was manipulated and, his conclusive part, disappeared; General Alonso Espinosa and Leonardo Barreiro are linked to the illegitimate surveillance process that Jorge Gabela was subjected to in the days prior to his murder; the then prosecutor of Samborondón, René Astudillo, is blamed for having carried out such awkward and negligent investigative procedures that turned out, in the end, to be unusable.

In its list of recommendations, the report requests, among a series of audits that fall within the competence of the Comptroller’s Office, to conduct an investigation of patrimony and financial movements to all the officials involved, beginning with Rafael Correa, as well as the criminal investigations that the Prosecutor considers necessary.

Helicopters

Diana Salazar takes the case

From Rafael Correa to prosecutor René Astudillo, through José Serrano and Ledy Zúñiga: 68 people in total, including ministers, military, judicial employees and second and third rank officers. The prosecutor of the Financial Analysis Unit already ordered the investigation of her accounts in relation to the purchase of the Dhruv.

The detail

Last witness. Javier Molina, an official of the Senain andrepresentative of Mossack Fonseca, asked to be received. The commission waswaiting for him last night. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/casogabela-investigacion-joseserrano-funcionarios-AE2475637