Ecuadorian justice on Thursday (November 10th) canceled the prosecution and conviction for embezzlement against former vice-president Jorge Glas, which could lead to his release although he is imprisoned for two other corruption cases.
Justice has decided to
"declare the procedural nullity of all acts since the filing of a complaint before the office of the Attorney General"
in 2019 in the so-called "Singue" case of alleged embezzlement in the context of an oil market, the National Court of Justice said in a statement.
One of the investigative reports used to launch the charges
“legally no longer exists”
as the court declared it
“stale and illegal”
.
This decision suspends the sentence of first instance to eight years in prison to which were sentenced in 2021 Jorge Glas, the former ministers Wilson Pastor and Carlos Pareja, and four other government officials of the former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007- 2017).
It authorizes the defense of the former vice-president to formulate a request for release, the latter having served 40% of his unified sentence for the two other corruption cases.
Jorge Glas could not benefit from the confusion of sentences until the “Singue” case had exhausted all avenues of appeal.
Damage to the State of 28.4 million dollars
The former vice president was sentenced to six years in prison for receiving bribes from the Brazilian public works company Odebrecht.
He was then sentenced to eight years in prison for demanding subsidies from contractors in exchange for public contracts, following a trial in which the left-wing ex-president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) also been sentenced, but in absentia.
Rafael Correa has been living in Belgium, the country of his wife, since 2017, and he obtained refugee status there in April.
"Today that we have nullity, that this criminal process or the sentence of the Singue case no longer exists, I believe that the judge of freedoms and detention of Quito will immediately conclude that the sentences are confused and, obviously, at the pre-release”
, declared the lawyer of Jorge Glas, Me Edison Loaiza, to the chain Teleamazonas.
The former vice president, who is serving his sentence in a prison in Quito, was temporarily released in April for health reasons, but the decision was later revoked.
The prosecutor's office expressed in a statement its
"deep concern"
after the court's decision.
As it cannot appeal against a decision of nullity, the
“procuretor's office will claim the horizontal appeals provided for by law and will pursue the acts of investigation”
.
According to the latter, this "Singue" affair caused damage to the State of 28.4 million dollars due to errors in the calculation of crude oil reserves.