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Richard Proaño: ‘I was dismissed for ruling against Ricardo Rivera.’
Posted On 23 Aug 2017
Ecuadornews:
Richard Proaño was a judge of the Childhood and Adolescence of the Guayas Province and says that they wanted to bribe him to rule in favor of Ricardo Rivera, uncle of vice president Jorge Glas, in a trial for alimony in 2011.
Q: When the case came to your office did you know who Ricardo Rivera was?
A: No, for me he was just another defendant facing a lawsuit over alimony … I did not know of his relationship with Vice President Jorge Glas … After the case arrived in September 2011, which began in 2009 and more than 16 judges did not sentence him, I began the analysis step by step.
Q: What was your ruling?
A: The accusatory part showed me the purchasing power of Mr. Rivera … Some bills demonstrated that he would spend more than $ 5,000 on a bohemian night in Colombia, that he owned a TV station… then I established a pension of $ 4,000 a month in 2011 … This figure was more than Rivera’s lawyer wanted ($ 600) and less than what the girl’s mother ($ 10,000) asked for.
Q: You affirm that you received pressures to rule in favor of Rivera…
A: Rivera’s lawyer at that time, I do not remember his name, but it must appear in the documents (Heriberto Glas, brother of the vice president), offered me first $ 5,000 to establish a pension of $ 600, Before my refusal I was offered $ 10,000 to establish a $ 1,000 pension and finally, he offered me $ 20,000 to order an allowance of $ 2,000. I refused … In 2016, other judges set the allowance in $ 600.
Q: Why did not you report this before?
A: The offer was verbal, I have no evidence, but my dismissal and the pension of $ 600 confirm that the ‘only bad’ thing I did was to rule against Rivera, but I did report my case in 2012.
Q: What was the argument for your dismissal?
A: Ricardo Rivera accused me of manipulating the computer system, but the director of the Guayas Judiciary Council of that time, Bolívar Vergara, declared me innocent; But Rivera appealed to the Council of the Transitional Judicature, and I was dismissed on June 19, 2012. (I)
