Eight people were sentenced after the corruption scandal; the comprehensive reparation of $33.4 million remains unpaid.
One is in prison, another is under arrest at home, two have died and another four have regained their freedom. in relation to the corruption case Odebrecht. After the death of Ricardo Rivera, one of those sentenced and who was also the uncle of former Vice President of the Republic Jorge Glas, the questions point to what will happen to the millionaire compensation to the State that must be fulfilled as part of the sentence.
Rivera’s lawyer, Anibal Quinde, spoke yesterday with LA HORA. He said that at the moment the family is “affected by loss” and there is still no official statement on what steps to follow after the death that occurred last Saturday.
It indicates that “what generally proceeds is that the judicial files against them be extinguished” and that the State is in charge of collecting the reparation, which in his case, reaches $7 million. The defender confirmed that none of that amount was covered. Rivera, who had received the change of prison regime to semi-open last December, was wearing an electronic shackle that has already been removed.
On December 13, 2017, the Ecuadorian justice achieved the first ruling against eight defendants. The Prosecutor’s Office established that the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht obtained contracts with the State through the payment of bribes to former officials Y businessmen. As reparation, eight convicted persons were ordered to pay $33.4 million.
Ricardo Rivera died of COVID-19, according to information from his relatives. He is the second victim of this process to die under these circumstances. Edgar Arias, businessman owner of Diacelec (Ecuador) and Columbia Management (Panama), also died of respiratory problems derivatives of the coronavirus.
The Prosecutor’s thesis indicated that through his companies, Arias gave cash to Rivera. He was sentenced to six years in prison and was serving his sentence in the Ambato jail.
They have not paid with the reparation to the State
Of all those sentenced, only Glas, designated as the person who received the bribes, remains in jail. He is currently hospitalized in Cotopaxi and must pay, as part of the sentence, $7 million. This measure has not been fulfilled.
Another defendant is under house arrest. Is about Ramiro Carrillo, who was Petroecuador Transportation Manager. The ruling established that he signed the contract with Odebrecht to build the Pascuales-Cuenca pipeline. The investigations indicate that he provided information on the bidding rules to the Brazilian company, through Gustavo Massuhanother sentenced
Carrillo’s lawyer, Wilson Velastegui, told this newspaper that he will continue to be detained at his home. This modality of prison was granted to him for “the complex clinical pictures that he presents at 71 years of age.”
The court ordered that pay about $200,000 as reparation to the State, but his defense assured that he will not. “They convicted him without any evidence. It was all a farce.” Velasteguí pointed out that the same evidence with which he was sentenced in the Odebrecht case was dismissed in another alleged money laundering trial. For this reason, they are already preparing other actions to “demonstrate that he is an innocent man.”
who are free
The lawyer Gustavo Massuh He was imprisoned for 11 months in the Cotopaxi prison. He was released in July 2018 after agreeing to the regime half open and completed two months of his sentence in freedom.
Kepler Executioner, businessman, requested collaboration with the justice system and received 14 months in prison. He was imprisoned for 11 months in the Guayas Penitentiary. On July 8, 2018, he regained his freedom and benefited from the rsemi-open scheme.
José Terán is a lawyer who collaborated with justice and received 14 months in jail. He left in August 2018 after completing his entire sentence.
Added to them is Carlos Villamarín, who worked at the National Water Secretariat. He already agreed to pre-release and He is serving the remainder of his six-year sentence out of jail. According to the investigations, he gave details of the bidding process to Odebrecht, to favor the firm in the contest related to the Daule-Vinces project.
A court seeks to know how much property they own
Last January 7, judges Byron Guillén, Felipe Córdova and Javier de la Cadena, who make up the court of execution of the sentence, issued a mandate for the Attorney General’s Office to determine the assets and property owned by each of those sentenced.
This step is necessary for a subsequent seizure and sale of the objects that allow the debt to be settled. The amount to which the goods arrive has not yet been determined and none of the eight defendants signed a payment agreement.
Criminal lawyer Paúl Ocaña Merino indicated that with the death of Ricardo Rivera, all legal proceedings against you are extinguished. In the case of the financial penalty for Odebrecht, indicated that the sentence becomes an “executive title” that the State can collect.
“If I have a debt, I have to cover it with assets,” he said. It is the Attorney General’s Office that must indicate the number and value of everything that belongs to those sentenced. (DPV)
