The preparatory hearing for the trial for illicit association against Sebastián Yunda and seven other people begins in Quito

After the evaluation hearing and preparatory trial could not take place, last Friday, against eight defendants for the crime of illicit association, among whom is Sebastián Yunda, son of the dismissed mayor of Quito, Jorge Yunda, the criminal judge of Pichincha Máximo Ortega installed, this Monday afternoon the diligence in which the procedural validity and the fiscal accusation against all the suspects will be analyzed.

The fiscal investigation in this case lasted 120 days and the existence of a structure that apparently had access to privileged information within the Municipality of Quito in the administration of Jorge Yunda, to benefit from money for contracts related with that council. The investigation stage closed on January 1st and was in charge of the prosecutor Mónica Tirado.

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This case for illicit association arose from information found on the cell phones of Mayor Jorge Yunda and his son Sebastián, until then. The artifacts were seized in raids within the fiscal investigation for the crime of embezzlement for the purchase of 100,000 tests to detect COVID-19 made by the Secretary of Health of the Municipality of Quito and in which Jorge Yunda and thirteen other people maintain a trial hearing in force.

After the respective expertise, 209 sheets of information were sent to the Transparency Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office for the provincial prosecutor of Pichincha Alberto Santillán, on March 30, 2021, to start with the preliminary investigation that initially analyzed an organized crime crime in which the only suspect was Sebastián Yunda.

It is understood that there will be no abstention decision, since the summons was made to the eight defendants: Sebastián Yunda, who is in Argentina with an extradition process in force; César Yunda, Sebastián’s uncle who maintains an Interpol Blue Notice; Christian Hernandez, former adviser to Jorge Yunda; the agenda coordinator of the then mayor of Quito, Cinthya Puga; Adrián Haro, former manager of the public company EMSeguridad; event organizer Pamela Novoa; the businesswoman Nancy Gaibor and her husband, the former director of the Ecuadorian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce Yinlong Wang.

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The eldest son of Jorge Yunda and leader of the musical band 4AM is brought to Ecuador from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was arrested on December 1 last by agents of Interpol (International Police, for its acronym in English), due to a red notice that fell on Sebastian.

Édgar Molina, defender of Sebastián Yunda, said that they arrive at the hearing with the expectation of reversing the elements with which the Prosecutor’s Office accuses and requesting that their client be called to trial. the lawyer thinks that prosecutor Tirado was hasty in linking her client to the process and explained that if he is called to the trial stage, it should be suspended, since he cannot be prosecuted in absentia.

“We will make known our arguments so that the judge dictates the respective dismissal. We don’t want a good or a bad judge, we just want a judge,” said Molina, who, being consulted about the extradition process against Sebastián Yunda said that they are waiting of the decision made by the Argentine authorities, but that he is not yet aware of any decision in this regard.

The diligence began with the presentation maintained by the defendants on the existence of vices that affect the procedural validity of all actions taken by the Prosecutor’s Office during the investigation stage fiscal. Then it will be the turn to contradict what was stated by the prosecutor Tirado and the private accusation of the public company EMSeguridad. (I)