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They ask to investigate to Rafael Correa for purchase of helicopters that could lead to crime
Posted On 19 Nov 2018
Ecuadornews:
Amultiparty commission, which analyzed in the National Assembly the case of theassassination of General Jorge Gabela, asks to investigate the patrimony andfinancial movement of the former head of State Rafael Correa, and of another 70people, who participated in the process of buying Indian helicopters.
This isclear from the final report approved at dawn by the Commission, which has founda possible participation of organized crime in the murder of Gabela, who haddenounced irregularities in the acquisition of the aircraft.
TheCommission worked four months in the investigation, whose results receivedtoday the president of the legislature, Elizabeth Cabezas, who said in a pressconference that she will deliver the documents to the plenary session, as wellas to the Office of the Prosecutor.
“Thecontribution we have given is fundamental and leaves us with some confidencethat this case can reach a successful conclusion with the clarification ofcorresponding responsibilities,” said Cabezas.
In thereport, the commission recommends to the Comptroller that a documentary auditshould be carried out on the pre-contractual, contractual and payment processesof the acquisition of the seven helicopters carried out by the Ecuadorian AirForce (FAE) to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL.
Also, make special examinations on the asset declaration of each of the public officials who participated in all phases of the helicopter recruitment processes.
In the same line, it asks the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE) to initiate an investigation of the patrimony and financial movements of the officials, former officials and their relatives who participated in the helicopter purchase process, and in the investigation of the death of Gabela.
The list “is headed by former President Rafael Correa and around 70 people,” the Assembly said in a statement.
Gabela, ex-commander of the FAE, was assassinated in the lobby of his home in the coastal city of Guayaquil in December 2010, a homicide that authorities at that time pointed out was the work of common criminals.
However, his widow Patricia Ochoa denounced that it was a murder related to Gabela’s accusations about the purchase by Ecuador of allegedly defective Dhruv Indian helicopters.
“There are serious indications that the assassination of General Gabela was a state crime,” Ochoa said at the press conference after the report was delivered, a case that – she stressed – must be resolved by the justice system.
The facts were already investigated by an Interinstitutional Commission initiated under the Executive of former President Correa and whose composition “was not independent and impartial,” according to the 70-page report delivered today to Cabezas.
Ochoa thanked the press for having kept the case in the public memory for the past eight years and assured that in four months, the multiparty commission did more than the Interinstitutional created in the past Government.
At theend of the press conference, the right-wing legislator César Rohn, commentedthat “there is a clear cover-up in all instances of the State in the assassinationof General Gabela”. (I)
