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Tomislav Topic defends intermediation of Ricardo Rivera
Posted On 26 Jul 2017
Ecuadornews:
In the process investigated for the alleged crime of illicit association, Tomislav Topic acknowledged that he paid USD 5.7 million in Internet services, data links and data center to Satellite Television. This company was raided last June 2nd and is related to Ricardo Rivera, uncle of Vice President Jorge Glas.
According to Topic, “Mr. Rivera was trying to sell international capacity over our infrastructure to Odebrecht to link the projects they had in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Panama.”
According to his statements, this did not materialize, but he acknowledged that Odebrecht is a Telconet customer. “He is our client, we gave, and we continue providing links (services) locally for more than nine years.” Thus, he ruled out that this payment was the result of bribes to benefit from state contracts. He also pointed out that Rivera was the liaison they had with Chinese investors to carry out the submarine cable project.
The Prosecutor’s Office extended the investigation of the Odebrecht case to Tomislav Topic, his son Jan Topic, the company Telconet and another one in Panama.
Father and son have been related to the investigation against Ricardo Rivera, who is under house arrest. The first rendered his version on July 17, 2017, and tomorrow, July 27, his son is expected to do so. (I)
