2023-12-14 13:53:00
(CNN Spanish) — The Attorney General of the State of Ecuador, Diana Salazar, reported through a video released by the institution early this Thursday, that a nationwide operation was successfully carried out, which included the arrest of the president of the Council of the Judiciary, and announced that charges have been filed against judicial and law enforcement officials.
Salazar described the operation as “the largest in national history against corruption” and drug trafficking.
The attorney general said that in the next few hours she will present charges against the president of the Judiciary Council, Wilman Terán, who was arrested in the early morning operation.
“Today the term ‘narcopolitics’ in Ecuador has been evident, it is no longer far away. “We can see how criminal structures have permeated institutions to achieve their objectives,” he noted.
From the official account of the Judicial Council it was indicated that Terán was arrested for his alleged participation in organized crime and hiring of hitmen.
CNN is trying to contact Terán’s defense. However, he posted on
Escorted by members of special Police units, the president of the Judiciary, Wilman Terán, entered the flagrante delicto unit of Quito where the hearing to formulate charges is expected to take place.
Upon his arrival, in statements to journalists taken by Ecuavisa, a CNN affiliate, Terán expressed his rejection of his arrest and said that he seeks to influence the renewal of justice. He added that he fears that the evidence will be altered and that he will defend himself against the charges against him. Terán insisted that he suffers persecution.
The operation, according to the authorities, included 75 raids, targeted more than 30 people under investigation and involved 900 people, including tax teams and special units of the National Police.
After the death in 2022 of Leandro Norero, leader of a criminal group linked to drug trafficking, signs emerged, according to Salazar, of a criminal structure that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, has affected State institutions.
“A criminal structure embedded in all levels of the State and directly linked to drug trafficking. The case called ‘Metastasis’ investigates the alleged crime of organized crime in which the deep social decomposition that prevails in the country is evident,” Salazar emphasized.
The prosecutor added that charges will also be filed against a former official of the National Court of Justice, officials of provincial courts, of the Judicial Council of Guayas, Cotopaxi, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and Manabí, of the Prosecutor’s Office of Guayas and Santo Domingo de the Tsáchilas, of the National Police, personnel of the penitentiary service, lawyers in free practice and leaders of the criminal structure.
“They had money obtained from criminal activities and they located corrupt officials who carried out their processes to obtain improper advantages,” Salazar said.
He added that unveiling this structure has meant extensive work and greater risk for those who carried out the operation and for those who continue in their duties.
“It is a clear x-ray of how drug trafficking has taken over State institutions to achieve impunity in some cases through ill-gotten money obtained from judicial and political bodies,” Salazar explained.
He insisted that it is necessary to continue with the purging of the institutions.
Prosecutor Salazar warned that there could be an escalation of violence in the country in response to this operation and noted that she asked the Presidency of the Republic not to fall into extortion by criminal groups.
The Prosecutor’s Office detailed this Thursday that, at the conclusion of the raid on Terán’s home, “The Prosecutor’s Office and Criminal Investigations Office of the National Police of Ecuador raised evidence such as documents, computers, cell phones and more than US$25,000 in cash, in 100 and 20 bills.” “.
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