Prosecutor’s Office examines in the case of ‘Las Torres’ the use of the same mechanism detected in the criminal proceedings for concussion against former controller Carlos Pólit | Politics News

“The mechanism used in this corruption scheme, as we have already seen in the case of the former general of the controller Carlos Pólit, consisted in blurring the glosses by subrogation in the body.” This was summed up by the general prosecutor, Diana Salazar, a few minutes after the end of the meeting for formulating the accusations for the crime. organized crime, early Wednesday morning Finally, the participation of the controller (s), Pablo Celi de la Torre, in the organized structure formed to commit “various crimes” against the security and efficiency of public administration.

Celi became deputy controller after Carlos Pólit, in mid-2017, traveled to Miami, USA and left the position of general controller, all in the middle criminal investigations open for offenses such as unlawful association and concussion related to the corruption scheme that the Brazilian company Odebrecht implemented in Ecuador.

Nine people, including Celi and her brother Esteban; former Secretary of the Presidency José Agusto Briones and his brother Luis Agusto Briones; Silvia L .; Angelo R .; Andrés L .; Natalia Cárdenas, former advisor to former Petroecuador manager Pablo Flores; and Elsie C., were detained in operations in Quito, Guayaquil and Samborondón between Monday evening and early Tuesday morning.

Firm sentence of six years in prison for concussion against former controller Carlos Pólit

Against the first seven defendants, the judge of the National Court of Justice (CNJ), Felipe Córdova, He was also remanded in custody on Wednesday morning In the past, men were admitted to Prison 4 in Quito; while Silvia L. was taken to the Chillogallo Women’s Prison.

On the other hand, Elsie C. was not required to take any precautions, and Cárdenas was ordered to use an electronic handcuff, a regular presentation every eight days and a ban on leaving the country.

The relationship that the prosecutor is talking about between the case of Celi and Pólit, regarding the mechanism used for committing crimes, would start from the premise that in both cases acts of corruption were committed by the Office of the Comptroller to dispel the glosses that existed in against companies in exchange for the delivery of money in the form of bribes.

Celi is being investigated for organized crime for allegedly requesting and receiving money to Nolimit SA through his nephew José Raúl de la Torre, convicted in the United States of money laundering, to disperse five glosses that the company kept in the Office of the Controller for an estimated $ 13 million.

The supposedly missing glosses were signed by two sub-controllers and everything would have been done with the knowledge and authorization of the surrogate controller. Organized crime for which an investigation has been opened The 90-day prosecutor would also include facts such as the request for money in exchange for elimination and to ensure the payment of the salary from Petroecuador to Nolimit.

Instead, Pólit maintains a firm sentence of six years in prison for the crime of concussion. The Court ruled that, as Comptroller General, he had requested $ 10.1 million from Odebrecht in blurring glosses for over $ 70 million with the San Francisco project and for providing favorable reports from the Brazilian Comptroller’s Office on the projects in which it participated.

Odebrecht: Conversation between Carlos Pólit and José Conceição dos Santos Filho (Part II)

The courts of first and second instance, as well as the three cassation judges, all CNJ, agreed that Pólit took advantage of his position “Requests” and “threats” managed to obtain $ 6 million from Odebrecht between 2010 and 2015 to dissipate glosses related to the San Francisco hydroelectric plant and $ 4.1 million to avoid issuing glosses on projects such as Pascuales -Cuenca Poliducto, Pacific, La Esperanza Aqueduct and others.

In December 2017, José Santos, former director of Odebrecht in Ecuador, gave his early testimony in the contusion process against Pólit. There, the Brazilian described the former controller as “the fourth property” in the country, because, according to him, Pólit had an “impressive power”, who used it to “threaten” and “blackmail” civil servants and private companies to get their own benefits.

Santos said $ 10.1 million was delivered to Pólit in cash and transfers to eliminate administrative glosses related to the San Francisco hydroelectric project and so that the controller and his group of auditors do not issue “unfounded glosses” against Odebrecht in five projects working in Ecuador.

In the case of the contusion against Pólit, the use of companies and accounts abroad was investigated in order to circulate the cash received in order to disappear and not issue glosses from the Office of the Controller.

Already on trial for organized crime, the Prosecutor’s Office, in addition to saying that Celi was the one who gave the disposition to disappear the glosses for the benefit of the company, to collect the salary of Petroecuador, pointed out that then José Agusto Briones, abusing his position, asked Pablo Flores, the manager of Petroecuador, to keep José Raúl de la Torre in the institution, who requested the delivery of gifts to the company Nolimit SA

Luis Agusto Briones indicated that he has the function of borrowing his accounts, he will appear as the final beneficiary who received the money through foreign companies and the bank accounts sent by a Costa Rican company; and Esteban Celi was mentioned as manager to manage the blurring of glosses taking advantage of the influences of his brother Pablo, in exchange for money.

Finally, de Cárdenas was said to be an active part of the illicit group and to have a percentage of the final profit; Elsie C., who was responsible for collecting checks during 2017-2019 and does not record any economic activity; and Silvia L., that he was a shareholder in several oil companies, which have since had Luis Agusto Briones as a client in 2018 and that she would have been appointed by the then secretary José Agusto Briones to receive benefits from this organization.

According to the general prosecutor, Diana Salazar, “the leaders of this organization held high public positions”. At the top of the structure would be Celi and José Agusto Briones, who would have abused their power and powers as public authorities to participate in the request for payments. improper in exchange for blurring glosses and making payments Sheets corresponding to the contracts signed between Petroecuador and the company Nolimit SA, between 2017 and 2020.

The sentence for concussion against Carlos Pólit was given in absentia, as the crime against him could be tried without his presence; but in the case of the illegal association Odebrecht, in which former vice president Jorge was convicted Glas, the former controller, is requesting a suspended trial from 2017, because the illicit association cannot be tried in absentia. (I)