The current authorities asked in writing to the Prosecutor’s Office to call the former Minister of the Interior and a tough man of Correísmo to render a version.
It is José ‘El Mago’ Chérrez himself, the main suspect of the millionaire embezzlement of police funds, who writes. In a message he says that “everything is fine” and that he has “Arrival to the Minister of the Interior.” The person with whom he talks is Jhon Luzuriaga, another of those prosecuted for the possible corruption network that was woven around the funds of the Police Social Security Institute (Isspol).
The data were extracted by researchers from the United States. That country delivered the evidence to the Prosecutor’s Office within the framework of the International cooperation about this case and they are already in a file opened for alleged embezzlement. There are thousands of conversations recovered from the phone of Luzuriaga, who was the former director of risks for Isspol.
According to those documents, on January 15, 2016, Cherrez, who identifies himself as Jorge Cerna, dice that has direct arrival at the Minister. At that time, José Serrano, a strong man during the Correísmo, was performing those functions.
This newspaper looked for a version of him to know what kind of relationship he had with Chérrez, but had no responses until press time.
What the chats say
In the chat conversation, Luzuriaga asked Chérrez for “help” because the Superintendency of Companies had requested all the documentation that supports a bond operation known as swap, for which the Isspol changed internal debt bonds for Global Depositary Notes (GDN ). Today, those movements are under investigation.
On several occasions, Chérrez asks Luzuriaga to be calm and send to the control entity “the stock market liquidations”, “the detail of the central” and “the tickets from outside “, but it gives you an additional warning: do not deliver “Absolutely nothing else.”
Nine days earlier, an auditor from the Superintendency of Banks had requested information on the swap operation. And days later, a letter from the Superintendency of Banks “asking for the entire process of the operation”, as reported by Luzuriaga to Chérrez (see graph).
Serrano’s name comes out in another chat
In other conversations, which are part of the criminal record, the surname Serrano appears.
For example, Eduardo Borja, representative of a company that is also mentioned in the chat, informs Luzuriaga, on January 9, 2017, that for “Source of José Serrano” he knows that the leadership of Isspol has been ratified for two years and the commanding general has also ratified.
Today, the directors of the Police Security Institute who were in command of the entity that year are facing the investigations. The authorities have promised sanctions.
Isspol asked the Prosecutor’s Office to summon Serrano
Renato González Peñaherrera, current director of Isspol, sent in December 2021 a request to the Public Administration Prosecutor’s Office to call the former Minister of the Interior, José Serrano and Inspector General (sp) Lino Proaño to render a version.
In the order he refers to a letter signed by Proaño. In it, he generatesHe tells that he made, in 2015, a series of requests to Isspol regarding the investments made by the institution and also by the acquisition of real estate. These requirements were made when he was serving as Chief of the Police General Staff.
The general inspector (sp) indicates that he did not have a written response. Rather, he was called by the then Minister of the Interior, José Serrano, with whom he had a “Altercation” and who pointed out that “said requests were an attempt against institutional stability.”
In addition, there is concern among the new authorities to know why there was interest in merging the Unemployment Service of the National Police, which has about $ 1 billion, with the Isspol.
In an act, dated October 26, 2016, when Serrano took office as director of Isspol, it was resolved to merge the two institutions that manage the millionaire police funds. A month later, the then Minister insists and it is approved to make the unification within a period of five months.
Gonzalez, maintains that, had the merger occurred, the embezzlement of Isspol would have amounted to $ 1.95 billion.
A check links Serrano’s circle to the case
The check is from January 2018 and is for $ 230,000. It is from an account in a United States bank and is signed by Jorge Chérrez. The beneficiary is María Paula Christiansen, a former official of the Ministry of the Interior during José Serrano’s tenure in that State portfolio.
In the reference, the check relates to the «spa store UIO contract». The document was presented by Assemblyman Fernando Villavicencio on November 22 last to propio ex-minister, who appeared from the United States in the framework of the impeachment against the superintendent of companies that is processed in the Commission. The former official went on to reply that the check would not show “any relationship” between Christiensen and the investigated Chérrez.
