Ecuador s comptroller being probed for corruption landed in jail
Ecuador s comptroller being probed for corruption landed in jail
Quito, Apr 15 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador´s General Comptroller and a former Energy Minister Pablo Celi was sent to prison after being remanded in custody for alleged corruption and organized crimes.
Celi, detained on Tuesday by the Attorney General s Office was sent to Prison 4 in Quito.
During the operations, US$93,562 (in cash) were seized as well as documents, computers, data storage devices, among others.
Attorney General Diana Salazar presented 16 elements of conviction in the hearing to formulate charges in the case called Las Torres , who investigates acts of corruption in public company Petroecuador, the Comptroller s Office and the General Secretariat of the presidency´s cabinet.
Ecuador detains comptroller, ex-minister in Petroecuador probe
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Ecuador s Comptroller arrested for alleged corruption
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After learning of the arrests, President Lenín Moreno and the Minister of Government,
Gabriel Martínez , said that they respect the independence of the functions of the State to carry out criminal investigations.
“I have had knowledge of the
arrests and raids that took place this morning. As has been my custom from the beginning, my respect for the independence and
autonomy of the functions of the State ”, said the President.
Instead, Martinez maintained that they will provide any information that the Prosecutor’s Office requires in this case.
Martínez added: “It is news that shocks the country. It will be the Attorney General who will deliver more information since it is a case that she has handled for more than a year and a half ”.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
QUITO, April 14 (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean judge ordered that the country’s current comptroller and former energy minister be placed under pre-trial detention on charges of organized crime related to state oil company Petroecuador, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors on Tuesday alleged that Comptroller Pablo Celi and former energy minister Jose Agusto Briones, who had also served as secretary to President Lenin Moreno, had abused their powers to orchestrate bribe payments related to Petroecuador contracts awarded between 2017 and 2020.
Both officials were transferred to a jail in capital Quito after the judge from Ecuador’s National Court of Justice issued the ruling. The pre-trial detention measure can last up to 90 days. The charge of organized crime carries a possible prison sentence of between seven and 10 years.