The dismissed mayor of Quito Jorge Yunda is part of a list of fourteen people prosecuted for the crime of embezzlement that occurred in the purchase of PCR tests.
A total of eight days have passed since the criminal judges of Pichincha Wilson Lema and Patlova Guerra decided to suspend the hearing for the challenge made by the dismissed mayor of Quito Jorge Yunda against the provincial judge Fabián Fabara and there is still no tentative date on which the diligence will be reinstated to know the resolution they reach.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, December 1, and after almost five hours of hearing in which the arguments of Yunda and Fabara’s defenses were heard, the judges entered the deliberation phase. Initially that day they said it would take them 40 minutes to solve, but given the extensive content of audios exposed by the defense of Yunda, Lema and Guerra decided to suspend the hearing to take the time necessary to decide on the matter of the challenge.
A challenge hearing filed by Jorge Yunda is installed; Beyond the result, the prosecution for the embezzlement case could be until 2022
Lema and Guerra are the skilled members of the Trial Court of the case for embezzlement that occurred in the acquisition of 100,000 tests to detect COVID-19 by the Ministry of Health of the Municipality of Quito.
In this embezzlement, the former mayor Yunda is investigated as a mediate author; former Secretary of Health Lenin Mantilla and Juan Alejandro Vinelli, manager of Salumed SA, accused as direct authors; and eleven more people named as co-authors, among them, Ximena Abarca, former Secretary of Health; o Linda Guamán, former technical coordinator of the Ministry of Health.
Édgar Molina, part of Yunda’s defense, recalled that his arguments were heard during the hearing and Judge Fabián Fabara did not want to be questioned or testify.
According to the lawyer, as part of his evidence in the diligence, 115 minutes of audio were presented with which it is evidenced that the judge “questioned, cross-examined, led the witnesses, discredited, carried out more than 90 questions and the most illogical thing about this is that it contravened express lawBecause the Code says that it cannot be clarified before a defendant, the Code says that the judge will request clarifications from witnesses and experts. We played the audio when (Fabián) Fabara did, questioned and asked Jorge Yunda for clarification ”.
Xavier Flores, lawyer for Judge Fabara, defends the legal power that judges have to ask clarifying questions and denies that the questions asked by his client are a manifestation of opinion within the case, that they would reflect a bias or that there is a kind of animosity in against the former mayor. For him, clarifying questions are the judge’s opportunity to nourish himself and fill in information about what a witness or expert is saying.
Judges suspend challenge hearing requested by Jorge Yunda and leave pending the day on which they will give their resolution
Fabara’s defense does not understand how the plaintiff says that since last October 6 Fabian Fabara was a biased judge and they just filed a challenge last October 21.
“Why did they not file the lawsuit on October 7, why did they wait for several days to pass from a judge not impartial to file the claim. I mean, they waited for three weeks to pass of development of hearing so that they consider that the judge was not being impartial ”, asked Flores, who affirms that in his personal opinion, the request for disqualification is a delaying measure.
Marcelo Icaza, another of Yunda’s lawyers, says that the lawsuit filed is not a delaying measure, but that it is a legal action. He clarifies that only one of the members of the Court has been sued and that if the action is accepted, only Fabara should leave the case, whose hearing judgment returns to zero.
Flores pointed out that they have made it clear at the hearing that there are no legal or factual arguments to separate of jurisdiction to the provincial judge whom he defends. He thinks they have shown the errors of the claim, the violation of the requirements, so you think you will not prosper.
Flores questioned how Yunda’s defense obtained the audios of the hearing, since, he said, there is a literal transcription of parts, of up to ten minutes, of things said in the proceedings. (I)
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