Process to extradite Sebastián Yunda from Argentina will run alongside the last month of prosecution for illicit association

Less than a month is left for the tax investigation for the crime of illicit association in which Sebastián Yunda, eldest son of the dismissed mayor Jorge Yunda, and seven other people are investigated, accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of being part of an alleged structure that had access to information privileged and benefited from money from contracts that would be related to the Municipality of Quito.

Yunda was arrested in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Wednesday due to a red notice from Interpol (International Police) that weighed against him. The eldest son of former mayor of Quito was wanted not only in Ecuador but in 194 countries of the world, once the criminal judge of Pichincha Máximo Ortega ordered him preventive detention for failing to comply with the periodic presentation measure that initially ordered him within the case for illicit association.

After Sebastián Yunda’s arrest in Buenos Aires, lawyers in Argentina would already take charge of the case; Ecuadorian justice works on extradition

This criminal prosecution began last September 3 with the filing of charges of six people and thirteen days later, Sebastián and his uncle César Yunda were linked to the investigation. The tax instruction went from having 90 days to 120 final and non-extendable days, that is, it must close on January 3, 2022.

Information located on the cell phone of the leader of the musical band 4AM led to 19 raids in Quito and Guayaquil in which Christian Hernández, Jorge Yunda’s former adviser; Cinthya Puga, former chief of staff for Mayor Yunda; Adrián Haro, former manager of the public company EMSeguridad; the event organizer Pamela Novoa, the businesswoman Nancy Gaibor and her husband, the former director of the Ecuadorian-China Chamber of Commerce Yinlong Wang.

This last stage of the tax instruction will take place between procedures for the extraction of information from equipment seized electronic devices, requests for information, expertise, versions and the beginning of the process to obtain the extradition of Yunda from Argentina.

The president of the National Court of Justice (CNJ), Iván Saquicela, was formally notified of the arrest in Buenos Aires by Sebastián Yunda and the same morning last Thursday took the first steps to bring the Ecuadorian from Argentina. The objective of extradition is to obtain the surrender of the requested person so that he can be tried or serve the sentence imposed against him.

To that extent, the respective extradition file was created with the official letter confirming the arrest. by Interpol and the placing of Yunda at the orders of the National Court of the Federal Criminal Correctional Number 10 of Buenos Aires, in charge of Daniel Ercolini. “Our similar request to initiate the formal request of arrest with a view to extradition through diplomatic channels,” says the official letter.

Cell phones of Jorge Yunda and Sebastián Yunda will be appraised within the process for illicit association

This information was notified by the president of the National Court to the judge of the case for illicit association, Máximo Ortega, so that, “if deemed appropriate,” he may request the start of the extradition process, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the matter and the Convention on Extradition, held in Montevideo (Uruguay) on December 26, 1993 and signed, among others, by Ecuador and Argentina.

Saquicela, who will be in charge of carrying out the active extradition process since he is the president of the CNJ, reminded Judge Ortega that in the case of requesting extradition, he must send certified documentation of the criminal case in physical form to the National Court and digital.

According to the Extradition Law, once Saquicela has assumed jurisdiction, before declaring the extradition request made by the judge in the case admissible, it must be verified that they are complied with. the requirements required by law and by international treaties. In the event that a document is missing, it will be requested from the judge of the case, the State Attorney General’s Office or the corresponding public entity.

If the necessary documentation has been compiled, the extradition request will be ruled appropriate and the formal request for extradition will be issued to the authorities of the requested State, in this case Argentina, attaching necessary documents such as the conviction or the order of preventive detention; the specification of the facts, place, date, nature and circumstances of the crime accused; data of identity, residence, among others, of the requested, based on the current extradition treaties; and the elements of conviction.

President Saquicela acknowledged that the extradition process cannot take place in a few days, because there is a process involved that must be followed. He confirmed that for this case, as for many others, it must be documented that there is a criminal process, what is the type criminal law for which the requested person is being processed and the motivation and justification of the preventive detention order.

So far it is not known whether Judge Máximo Ortega has already formally requested that the process begin of extradition of Sebastián Yunda to the president of the National Court. Throughout procedure in which there is a preventive detention order or sentence against a person who is a fugitive, as well as a red notice against him, the competent judge of the case must request extradition to the presidency of the CNJ. (I)