On May 11, 2022, a Tribunal of the National Court (CNJ) plans to review the first instance sentence for embezzlement. This is the third contrary ruling for former Vice President Jorge Glas.
After 16 months of knowing the sentence and after three failed attempts, the appeal hearing of the Singue case must be installed in the National Court of Justice (CNJ) .
In this process, a Criminal Court sentenced seven people for the crime of embezzlement . Among those sentenced are the former vice president of Correismo Jorge Glas, and the former ministers Carlos Pareja Yannuzzelli and Wilson Pástor.
This diligence has a particularity: it is the first time, since this criminal process began, that Glas will face a hearing on the Singue case in freedom .
On April 10, 2022 , protected by a disputed habeas corpus, the former vice president left the Latacunga prison . Diego Moscoso, a judge in Manglaralto (Santa Elena), ordered his release based on medical reports that revealed various conditions.
And Glas obtained his freedom despite the fact that there are two enforceable sentences against him for six and eight years in prison, for illicit association (Odebrecht case) and bribery (Bribery case), respectively. In other words, the judgment in the Singue case is the third against Glas.
Among the lawyers of the other six sentenced, this situation is viewed with suspicion. Although they prefer not to admit it publicly, as a matter of strategy, unofficially they say they fear that the eagerness to return Glas to prison will generate extra pressure for the judges when deciding the appeal.
However, regardless of what happens in the proceedings, Rafael Correa’s former vice president will not immediately return to prison .
According to the Ecuadorian criminal law, after appeal there is still one more instance: cassation. Only when that appeal is resolved, the sentence will be final and the Court could issue a new arrest warrant against Glas.
Nor is a new preventive detention order viable: the former vice president already had this measure at the beginning of the Singue case. At that time he was detained for his other sentences, so that order never materialized and expired.
In short, the return of Glas to prison does not depend on the Singue case, but rather on the habeas corpus appeal itself , which is being processed in the Court of Santa Elena, and which must be resolved until May 16, 2022.
The singe case
The Singue case focuses on the alleged irregularities in the award of the contract for the extraction of oil in the Singue field, during the Government of Rafael Correa.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the 15 defendants committed embezzlement. The damage would have occurred by setting a price of USD 33.5 per barrel produced , that is, less than the value of the initial offer and that to arrive at that figure, 100% of the proven hydrocarbon reserves were not taken into account for this oil field.
These facts would have caused damage to the State of approximately 28.4 million dollars.
The appeal
The appeal presented by the seven sentenced in the Singue case will be in charge of a new court made up of judges Luis Rivera, Felipe Córdova and Daniella Camacho.
It is up to these magistrates to review the evidence again, which was exposed in the trial. And, in an eventual case, confirm the innocence of one or more of the defendants.
As in the trial, the appeal of the defenses goes along two main lines:
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Procedural nullity
This case originated in a report by the Comptroller General of the State. But, according to Wilson Pastor’s defense, there is a problem of temporality.
The work order for the audit was issued on September 12, 2016 and the report was approved on August 1, 2017 , that is, more than the 180-day term provided for in the Comptroller’s Law elapsed.
For this reason, all the actions of the CGE, based on that report, should be declared illegal and nullify the entire process. In that case, explains the lawyer Juan Pablo Albán, the case should return to the formulation of charges.
This is because when the Singue process began, on March 13, 2019, it was still in force and the CGE report was necessary to initiate criminal action .
Now, there is a criminal reform that eliminated the need for a report . This legal change was made in July 2019. So now, the Prosecutor’s Office could file charges without the report, but the process would return to zero.
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Was there harm?
According to the Comprehensive Penal Code (COIP), embezzlement is configured when one or several persons -by virtue of a state power- abuse, appropriate, distract or arbitrarily dispose of movable or immovable property, public or private money by virtue of their position .
In short, there is a detriment to the State. In the Singue case, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, it was determined that the award of the contract caused economic damage to the State of approximately USD 28.4 million.
That damage comes from the price per barrel. According to the accusation, there is a loss, because a fee of USD 33.50 was paid for each barrel of oil from Singue, instead of the fee calculated by the Comptroller of USD 32.45.
However, the defenses see it differently. Within the files of the case, which will be analyzed by the Court of Appeal, there is the memorandum MERNNR-VH-2019-0386-OF of July 9, 2019. That document was issued by the Ministry of Energy.
In that official letter, the Ministry certified that in reality the rate actually paid during the investigation period is USD 27.80.
Another thesis that the Prosecutor’s Office handled on embezzlement is the alleged benefit of Silvana Pástor, daughter of former Minister Wilson Pástor. Silvana Pástor started working in a managerial position at Gente Oil, the company awarded the oil contract .
She was also prosecuted in the Singue case. But, the judges of first instance confirmed her innocence. And neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor the Attorney General’s Office appealed that decision.
Therefore, his innocence is firm and the embezzlement cannot go that way either .