Approximately 577 prosecutors are needed to meet the Latin American standard.
In Ecuador there is a lack of prosecutors. At least 577, with their respective teams, to meet the Latin American standard.
This was detailed by the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar, during the 2021 institutional accountability.
In total, there are 32 specialized prosecutor’s offices in the country, 298 multi-competent prosecutor’s offices that deal with criminal offenses, 41 comprehensive care units, 23 provincial prosecutor’s offices and 3 hearing management units.
But it’s not enough. And proof of this are the cases that do not come out of previous investigation.
2 million complaints since 2014
Since the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP) entered into force in 2014, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) has received 2.2 million complaints. Of these, 89.2% are still in prior inquiry (PI).
In addition, less than 10% (124 thousand cases) are in the trial stage.
The announcement of the lack of agents is not new. In the 2020 accountability, Salazar already announced the same thing: that the cases are delayed due to lack of personnel.
Moreover, Ecuador has suffered a setback in terms of prosecutors. In 2018, the rate was 5 per 100,000 inhabitants and by 2021 it dropped to 4.8.
“At the end of fiscal year 2021, the tax rate was 4.83 per 100,000 inhabitants, which means that at least 577 tax agents should be incorporated with their respective secretaries and assistants to comply with the Latin American standard and reliably attend to the citizen demands for access to criminal justice,” said Salazar.
Why the deficit?
In 2018, when Gustavo Jalkh was in charge of the Judiciary, two merit and opposition contests were called for the appointment of provincial prosecutors and for the formation of a prosecutorial career, but they never materialized.
The Judiciary Council declared the processes null and void after the Comptroller’s Office, the Citizen Participation Council and legal reports from the Judiciary itself made observations of irregularities. Since then, no new processes have been opened.
According to the Council of the Judiciary, this is the responsibility of the Prosecutor’s Office, which must be in charge of processing the budget items with the Ministry of Finance. This, while the Prosecutor’s Office has detailed that since 2014 it has had budget cuts. In 2014, the entity received $153.8 million and in 2020, $138.8 million.
More corruption investigations
Among the crimes most dealt with by the Prosecutor’s Office, in 2021, are those related to corruption: 1,981 in total. As in other processes, most are kept in IP and are reserved.
Only 17 have reached the stage of fiscal investigation and two people have had convictions.
Among the main cases that have been of connotation for the Prosecutor’s Office are: Bribery, Singue, Diacelec, Diezmos, Ola Bini, Norma Vallejo Senagua, Pedernales Hospital, Food Kit, Daniel Salcedo, Jorge Yunda (trial) and Las Torres. (AVV)
Fiscal deficit
Ecuador
2018
Fiscal agents: 840
Deficit: 228
2019
Fiscal agents: 840
Deficit: 541
2020
Fiscal agents: 828
Deficit: 573
2021
Fiscal agents: 845
Deficit: 577
Ecuador tiene 4,70 fiscales por cada 100.00 habitantes. El estándar de Latinoamérica es de 8 por cada 100.000.
