The United States Prosecutor’s Office presented a report on the elements that it will use as evidence in the money laundering trial against former comptroller Carlos Pólit.
Former vice president Jorge Glas and former comptroller Carlos Pólit, at an event on public control strategies, in June 2015.
The United States Attorney’s Office is aware of former Comptroller Carlos Pólit ‘s attempts to politicize the court cases against him. For this reason, he alerted the Miami Court to prevent “the presentation of inadequate arguments” within the money laundering trial, which will start on April 8, 2024.
In a 37-page report, prosecutor Markenzu Lapointe and Glenn S. Leon, head of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, explained the reasons for their request: Pólit has a public history of allegations of political persecution.
It already happened during the Bribery case, when in 2018 the former comptroller was sentenced to six years in prison for concussion and to pay restitution to the State for USD 40 million. That decision was ratified in Ecuador in December 2020.
For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Justice anticipated and warned about the possibility that Pólit’s defense “will try to encourage the annulment of the jury and/or that he will be a victim of selective processing.”
Likewise, officials asked the Miami Court to exclude “evidence of good conduct” in case the former comptroller, whose code name used in this plot was ‘Miami’, attempts to present such documents.
“The accused can try to offer evidence that he had good conduct as Comptroller General of Ecuador, including the protection of the public treasury and the audit of government contracts,” they maintain.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, this would seek to “give the jury the impression that the defendant is a respectable member of the community and a legitimate public official who lacked criminal intent in the bribery and money laundering schemes (…). However, that impression is both irrelevant and misleading.”
Political ties
In October 2015, then-president Rafael Correa congratulated Carlos Pólit “for the important advances during his administration.” “If everyone loves Carlos (…) because he is very nice,” he said between laughter and applause.
Two years later, in 2017, the then comptroller traveled to Miami and did not return. And already in 2018 he alleged total persecution, “for having released the most compelling reports against the Correa government and other governments.”
Now they both agree that the court cases against them are political. However, the links that the US authorities are weaving reflect another reality: during the Correismo there was a bribery scheme and Pólit was one of the wheels.
But the ‘political’ is in the links they maintain. For example, among the key witnesses in the former comptroller’s defense is Pedro Solines , former Secretary of Public Administration, former Superintendent of Banks and now Mayor Milagro por la Revolución Ciudadana.
At the same time, the accusers will present among their witnesses other actors with close relations with Correism: José Santos, former representative of Odebrecht in Ecuador, and Diego Sánchez, who was the strong figure in the insurance world.
The evidence of the United States against Pólit
In the report sent on March 4 to the Miami Court, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Justice announce a dozen categories with evidence collections :
- Emails and text messages from Carlos Pólit.
- Audio recordings of Carlos Pólit.
- Emails, text messages and statements of Co-conspirator 1 (John Pólit, son of the former comptroller).
- Emails related to Co-conspirator 1’s financial transactions and business records.
- Emails and records of Odebrecht employees related to the payment of bribes.
- Records of bank accounts in the United States and other countries.
- Florida Corporate Records and Public Records.
- Resolutions and press releases from Ecuador.
- Summaries of bank accounts and the flow of money investigated.
- The sentence against Carlos Pólit in Ecuador.
