The work reports presented by the justice authorities, the State Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office will be analyzed by the commissions.
The president of the Council of the Judiciary, María del Carmen Maldonado, when presenting her work report for 2021, defended the constitution of this body of government, administration and discipline of the Judicial Function.
He said that the management carried out in 2021 will allow the assembly members and citizens to understand the true dimension of the work and the transcendental role within the State that the institution that presides over has, which is not a recent creation, but is due to the Constitution of the Republic of 1992, and how vast were the political, technical and legal arguments that gave way to the formation of the institution.
The President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, does not rule out a possible elimination of the Judicial Council through a popular consultation to avoid conflicts that arise between the National Court of Justice and the Judicial Council.
What is and how does the Council of the Judiciary work, a body targeted for elimination by popular consultation
Maldonado in his presentation before the plenary session of the legislature affirmed that the Council of the Judiciary complied with the country, that no Council of the Judiciary will be remembered for having respected judicial independence as this Council has done, that rigorous disciplinary control has been demonstrated .
As an analysis of disciplinary behavior in 2021, 66 dismissals were registered among officials, administrative servants, judges, prosecutors and public defenders, he noted.
Prosecutor’s Report
In the management report of the Attorney General’s Office 2021, the highest authority of the agency, Diana Salazar, highlighted that there was a budget execution of 99.84% of a budget that stood at $ 141,388,207; that until December 2021 that justice institution has 3,767 servers and officials, of which 2,804 are missionaries and 963 support.
As of December 2021, the National Unit Specialized in Investigation against Transnational Organized Crime managed a total of 200 cases, of which 77 are new, prosecuted 122 people, seized 24 vehicles, a boat and more than $344,000.
The Transparency and Fight against Corruption Unit managed 205 cases, 34 of which are supported by the Task Force unit. In the investigations, 137 people were prosecuted, more than $3 million were seized between monetary values, vehicles and real estate. And in confiscation without judgment more than $ 1 million was obtained.
Instead, the Task Force managed 188 cases, of which 169 continue in preliminary investigation, the rest in prosecutorial investigation, evaluation and trial preparation, and others in trial. In this unit there are 17 people with a conviction, said Salazar.
Through the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, 560 cases were processed, of which 32 have a call for trial and 8 have a conviction. 132 processed were registered, vehicles, real estate and personal property were seized in excess of $15 million.
The six national prosecutor’s offices handled 951 cases, of which six are being investigated within the task force, 43 people have been prosecuted, of which 17 are under investigation; 2 called to trial and 22 with a conviction, $140,000 were seized.
Salazar highlighted the role played by the State Attorney General’s Office in the three cases of high national connotation: Las Torres, Dhruv Helicópteros and Freddy C.
New Attorney
The State Attorney, Íñigo Salvador, when presenting his 2021 management report before the National Assembly, mentioned that in the last four years the institution he directs avoided the payment of $14,000 million, while there is a contingent liability of $57 million.
But the official took advantage of his presentation to talk about the project of the Attorney General’s Office of the future as a strategic means for the legal defense of the State, which implies the creation of a body of State attorneys who will coordinate and articulate all the legal teams of the agencies and institutions of the public sector, where the Office of the Attorney General will be the governing entity.
To implement this new management model and the operation of the State’s national legal defense system, the Attorney General’s Office will have an institutional presence with offices in all the country’s provinces, articulated by seven regional directorates. This institutional deployment in the territory will allow the coordination and monitoring in the territory of the actions of the legal teams of the State entities.
The implementation of the Attorney General’s Office of the future will be progressive and will depend on the commitment to the constitutional value that recognizes its administrative, financial and budgetary autonomy. In 2021, this proposal was socialized at the level of decentralized autonomous governments, students and civil society.
The average annual amount that the implementation of this new management model will demand is $6 million in addition to its regular budget, the attorney noted.
Íñigo Salvador highlighted that in the field of judicial representation and sponsorship of the State and its institutions before national judges and courts, during 2021, 114,939 active cases were registered, of which 20,000 were new processes and 12,433 sentences were obtained, of which 58 % were favorable to the State.
Regarding the legal defense of the State in international matters and arbitration, the management in 2021 shows that there are 86 active processes, of which 10 refer to investment arbitrations, 13 commercial arbitrations, 15 to court trials foreign, 7 to processes before the court of justice of the Andean community and 40 notifications of controversies.
Regarding the representation of the country in the event of lawsuits filed against the country for human rights violations, up to December 31, 321 active cases were registered, of which 35 are new and 4 are in the admissibility stage.
After the appearance of the officials, the plenary session of the legislature commissioned the Transparency and Citizen Participation commissions; Economic and Tax Regime; Comprehensive Protection of Girls, Boys and Adolescents; and, to the Justice Commission so that they analyze the reports presented and that within a period of 30 days. (I)
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