It was a time of mandatory confinement due to COVID-19 and, in addition to other activities, the vigil for the dead was prohibited to avoid further contagion of the virus. But even this was charged in some cases, and who ended up paying for these items was the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS), an entity that also covers funeral services for its members and retirees.
That activity was repeated and occurred especially in Guayaquil, according to those affected and authorities.
For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office opened criminal proceedings against four citizens who would be involved in the crime of illicit association to make improper charges to the IESS, for funeral or funeral services during the months of March, April and May, the most critical of the health emergency. by COVID-19, in the year 2020.
This Thursday, March 3, the request of the Prosecutor’s Office was accepted by Judge María Lorena Jaramillo, who called Dayanna G., José M., Leila V. and María Z to trial. They are accused of participating in this illicit.
The prosecutor Claudia Romero, in charge of the investigation, said during her accusatory opinion that the defendants had adapted their actions to obtain economic benefits from the IESS, through bills for funeral services to relatives of pensioners and active members.
These services, in addition, were not delivered to the beneficiaries of the so-called Aid for funerals from the IESS, which covers concepts such as mortuary chest, wake service, religious service, among others.
“This concert of wills to commit the crime would have been carried out between March and May 2020, taking advantage of the excess mortality resulting from the pandemic, especially in the city of Guayaquil,” cites the Prosecutor’s Office.
As the benefits of a funeral home included religious and wake services for $1,357.73, the maximum amount of the subsidy, those involved would have readjusted those amounts to obtain the full value of the relief fund. This despite the fact that by provision of the national COE, activities such as vigils, religious services and others for those who died in those pandemic months of 2020 were prohibited. And since this was suspended, it could not be charged.
In a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office it is indicated that the prosecutor Claudia Romero based her accusation on more than ninety elements of conviction, such as the detention part of the defendants.
Dayanna G., one of the defendants, was apprehended in flagrante delicto, when she gave money to an official from the IESS hospital in Los Ceibos to give her information about the deaths in that health home, it was said.
The Prosecutor’s Office also presented the versions of the relatives of those who would be the victims. They reported that they did not request billed services.
Another of the elements of conviction would be the recognition report of the scene of the events and the graphotechnical and documentary expertise, which indicate that the signatures of the service requests do not coincide with those of the invoices presented, adds the Prosecutor’s Office in the press release. .
There is also the result of the expertise of extraction (or exploitation) of information from the telephone device of one of the defendants, in which conversations were found between the defendants, where the delivery of data of deceased persons in several hospitals in Guayaquil was also coordinated. , It indicated.
The judge ordered that the precautionary measures be maintained for the defendants and that an investigation also be initiated into the actions of the IESS Funeral Services company, including its directors, with which the funeral aid process is carried out.
Now the setting of the date and time for the trial of the four defendants in this case is expected.
If found guilty, they can be sentenced to three to five years in prison, as dictated by the norm for illicit association, according to article 370 of the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP). (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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