Condemnation against Rafael Correa for bribery ratified – Latin America – International

The Ecuadorian justice confirmed on Monday, in the last instance, the sentence to eight years in prison against former President Rafael Correa for corruption, which means his political death just when he aspires to participate in the February elections, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

A tribunal of the Supreme National Court “by majority vote (…) rejects the cassation appeals filed by the appellants, and ratifies the bribery sentence” handed down in April against Correa and a dozen former collaborators, the accusing body told via his on Twitter.

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The ex-president, who has lived in Belgium since 2017 and was tried in absentia as allowed by law, said on the same social network: “They finally succeeded. In record time they issued a ‘final’ sentence to disqualify me as a candidate.” “They do not understand that the only thing they are doing is increasing popular support. I will be fine. Give all your solidarity to those persecuted there. Remember: the only thing they condemn us to is to win,” he added.

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(Also read: Correa calls a ‘very serious’ rejection of his candidacy for vice president)

The sentence, handed down in April and confirmed in July, was ultimately ratified in a cassation raised by Correa, who is a vice presidential candidate for a left-wing coalition.

Once the sentence is executed, after a request for clarification that you can still file your defense, The ex-governor will be disqualified for life from popular elections upon being sentenced for bribery, as established by the Constitution for this and other types of crimes.

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The National Court of Justice established that Correa and several of his former collaborators received bribes in exchange for contracts with various companies, among which at the time the Brazilian Odebrecht was mentioned, although the Prosecutor’s Office abstained from investigating the construction company.

The 57-year-old former president, who maintains his innocence, was linked to the case for $ 6,000 that entered his bank account and that he alleges was from a loan from a fund of his party.

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“Today the State Attorney General’s Office has not won, all of Ecuador has been the winner because Justice is being inaugurated in this country“said the prosecutor at the conclusion of the cassation appeal hearing at the headquarters of the National Court of Justice (CNE).

Salazar, who struggled to investigate the “Bribes 2012-2016” case, initially uncovered in a journalistic report in April 2019, believes that the sentence shows the impartiality of Justice.

The ‘Bribes’ case is about a corruption network through which “undue contributions” were received in the Carondelet presidential palace between 2012 and 2016, for the irregular financing of the official Alianza País movement, in exchange for the awarding of millionaire State contracts to companies, including Odebrecht.

(In context: The keys to the case for which Rafael Correa faces prison)

“Let it be a clear message that it does not matter, from the highest power structures, the law is for everyone. There is no one on the law,” he said. In front of the detractors of the fiscal and judicial work, she recalled that a dozen judges throughout all the instances, including the last one of the Cassation, “have confirmed the theory of the Prosecutor’s Office” and that the fiscal body will continue with its

Regarding comprehensive reparation to the victims of the bribery scheme, as indicated in the sentences, he indicated that It is up to the State Attorney General’s Office to fix it.

Correa, who claims to be the victim of political persecution by his former ally and current president Lenín Moreno

AFP and EFE