Four political trials in seven months of oversight activity by the National Assembly

Four political trials that ended in censorship and dismissal, two filed proceedings and four pending interpellation requests are the balance of the National Assembly’s political oversight task in the first seven months of management.

In addition to this, the Audit Commission approved two audit reports that include conclusions and recommendations regarding the Flopec and Sucre-Foglocons case.

He also opened investigations in the cases of emblematic universities, Coca Codo Sinclair, international oil trade-Petroecuador, (Petrochina, Gunvor, Petrotailandia), INA Papers and Tranvía. These processes are in the final phase and the reports will be approved between January and February.

The four trials that reached the plenary session of the legislature were against the deputy comptroller, Pablo Celi; the former Minister of Energy René Ortiz; the Ombudsman, Freddy Carrión; and the Superintendent of Companies, Víctor Anchundia.

Instead, the process against former Minister René Ortiz was shelved, but it was resumed immediately and ended the censorship, and the request for a trial against former Minister of Economy and Finance Richard Martínez, due to the expiration of the deadline.

The four pending processes are against the Superintendent of Banks, Ruth Arregui; the State Attorney, Íñigo Salvador; and, against four members of the National Electoral Council and a former councilor.

The process against Arregui will be reactivated on January 3, 2022 when the term begins to run for them to present the evidence for the charge and discharge of this official who faces eight accusations related to lack of control in unauthorized operations such as Big Money , in the Quevedo canton, in the activities of financial institutions and non-fulfillment of functions in cybersecurity problems registered in Banco Pichincha.

Pachakutik requests impeachment of the Superintendent of Banks, Ruth Arregui

Access to information

The president of the Commission, Fernando Villavicencio, considers that there is a change on the part of the official sector regarding access to information at the time of the audit, for example, in the Petrochina case, journalists have been requesting information for more than a decade and Without results, but as a member of the assembly, the Petroecuador authorities have provided information that was reserved and that confirms the existence of a corruption scheme in the delivery of oil to China and in the credit lines with Asian countries.

But the steepest thing for the Commission was in the impeachment against the former comptroller Pablo Celi, because at the beginning there was resistance from the deputy comptroller in charge, Carlos Riofrío, in the delivery of the information that was classified as reserved by the same official and which was referring to glossed legislators.

However, adds Villavicencio, the surrogate had to change his mind and provide information on the fifteen legislators who have reports with criminal responsibility and glosses, whose investigative processes continue.

The president of the table considers that at the level of middle management there was fear of the officials to deliver information, because in the case of Álex Saab, fear was detected from the officials who come from previous governments and who were part of these structures and obeyed orders .

But, when feeling supported by the current authorities, the information flowed and for that reason the Commission was able to access a large part of the data that was handled under reserve in the Central Bank of Ecuador and in the Superintendency of Banks. A report was obtained in which the former manager of the Central Bank Mateo Villalba alerted about fraudulent operations or of dubious origin, linked to the explosive increase in transfers from Venezuela through the Sucre system, which would threaten the total liquidity of the economy due to the exit of capitals.

In the trial of ex-comptroller Pablo Celi, according to Villavicencio, some officials during their appearances defended the structure, defended their bosses, defended the institutionality; that is to say, they protected each other under the cloak that their responsibility reached up to a certain point, since neither was responsible.

But the information provided by the former Deputy Comptroller Valentina Zárate was key to identifying the existence of a criminal structure within the Comptroller’s Office, because they vanished glosses, kept documents or allowed the examination processes to expire. All this led to the structuring of a report that ended with the censorship of Pablo Celi.

Legislative positions

At the time of investigating corruption cases from the Oversight Commission, the assembly members who represent Correísmo in that legislative table have a linear behavior, says Villavicencio, at first they approve the start of the investigations and then they torpedo and block the process.

In the Álex Saab case, assures the national representative, the UNES assembly members came to raise the removal of Villavicencio in an indirect and hidden way on three occasions, this approach was made to the legislators Pedro Velasco (BAN), Bruno Segovia (before PK ) and Ana Belén Cordero (CREO), to assume the presidency. But they did not achieve their purpose.

UNES legislators María Gabriela Molina, Roberto Cuero and Comps Córdova were contacted to receive their version, but there were no results, they did not respond to the call or text messages.

Pedro Velasco, delegate of the National Agreement Group (BAN), specifies that the impeachment processes had sufficient arguments and evidence that motivated the censorship and dismissal, which are supported and that both due process and the right to freedom were always respected. defending.

Trial file

In this first stage, the National Assembly registered two impeachment files, one against former Energy Minister René Ortiz, but which was reactivated immediately and ended the censorship of the former official for non-compliance with his duties.

The other file is related to the five requests for a trial against former Minister of Economy and Finance Richard Martínez. In this process, according to Fernando Villavicencio, there was complicity between the president of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, and the Executive, because the trial was filed in the presidency of Parliament, it was expected that the times would preclude and when there were three days left and there was another trial approved and in progress, he sent the file to the Commission, but when the committee was able to hear the requests for interpellation, the period of one year to prosecute Martínez concluded.

In that case there was a political game, says Fernando Villavicencio, because on five occasions he requested that the file be sent; in that process “there was a desire to protect Richard Martínez.”

Legislator Velasco is annoyed that there has been inaction and a lack of promptness in the performance of duty and that the impeachment process against Martínez has been kept on the desk from the previous period. Those who made that game must answer to the country.

Social Comptroller

By 2022, the Audit Commission hopes to build a social comptroller in each provincial capital, with this, the legislative houses will become centers for citizen participation and the fight against corruption.

In these spaces, citizens will be able to present from their criticisms of the audit task to well-founded complaints against any authority or public official.

So far, three tests have been carried out, the first in Cuenca, where people raised the examination of the Tram contracts; the second in Riobamba and Alausí, where a question was registered about the lack of reconstruction of a hospital; and the other trial was in Puyo, Pastaza province, where information was received on oil operations in indigenous peoples.

A fourth test will be carried out in Orellana at the request of the president of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, so that all oil contracts in that province are investigated. Then it will be Manabí, on the resources of the earthquake and the Cabezal-Chone and Multipurpose-Chone projects. The four hospitals in that province will also be audited. (I)