The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and his brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera, who has been named as the head of a corruption structure in public companies in the country’s electricity sector.
journalist Andersson Boscan and his investigative team released a report prepared by Ecuador’s Anti-Drug Police that would reveal the connections of Ruben Cherres, identified as a friend Daniel Carrerabrother-in-law of the President of Ecuador, William Lasso. According to digital outlet La Posta, which has already denounced an alleged corruption plot that would implicate Carrera in the administration of public offices, if the Ecuadorian government would have been influenced Albanian mafia in the country, through the actions of Chérres and Carrera.
The 68-page police report was part of an investigation conducted by Manta prosecutors in 2021. At the time, authorities were investigating a drug trafficking case they dubbed “El León de Troya.” However, as the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, the case was filed because the prosecutor in charge of the investigation received a report from the National Investigative Unit Against Illegal Traffic for Internal Consumption, which states:It was not possible to obtain elements of persuasion that would feed into the investigation“. However, in view of the journalistic investigation, the Attorney General announced that a legal review of the case had been ordered and that investigations could be resumed if new information was found.
The journalist for his part Christian Zuritafrom the Investigative Journalism portal, published that in October 2021, then-Police Commander-General Tanya Varela ordered the disbandment of the investigative team prosecuting the case: “The leader of this investigation and the agents were over-classified – risk conflict zones, they were threatened.” .
Excerpt from the police report on the “León de Troya” case, which would link Rubén Chérres to members of the Albanian mafia. (Courtesy of La Posta)
In what was reported in the 2021 police report revealed by La Posta and shared by this medium with the international press, the connections between them are revealed Chérres and the Albanian mafia. Well, he’s been spotted having a number of meetings with the Albanian Dritan Gjika. One of the encounters documented in the report dates from May 5, 2021, when Chérres was spotted working at the Osaka Fish Company, a then-bankrupt company in the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador, and that would be used by the Albanian mafia as a cover for the operations used by the criminal organization.
The journalistic portal Plan V also revealed the story of gjikawho “has been in Ecuador for almost a decade and has conducted various businesses from Guayaquil, including a Banana exporter linked to an Albanian importer accused of drug trafficking“.
The police report was published on the morning of February 13 in the Café La Posta interview program, which is broadcast on various digital platforms. After publication of the report Andersson Boscan He went to the National Assembly and appeared before the Special Commission on Truth, Justice and Anti-Corruption, where he presented the results of his investigations and shared the information gathered by the team: 35,000 documents that would prove the objective and illegal connections between Chérres and Carrera, which, according to the outlet, served to secure appointments to high positions in public companies and ministries.
Journalist Andersson Boscán appeared before the Legislative Commission investigating the administration of public prosecutions that would involve the closest circle of the President of Ecuador. (Monica Velasquez)
The documentation supplied includes photos and transcripts of more than 10,000 phone calls. In one of these transcripts Chérres mentions that he and his partners contributed at least $1.5 million to Guillermo Lasso’s campaignwho took over the presidency in May 2021.
According to what Boscán appeared before the legislative commission investigating the case, the positions administered by Chérres and Carrera were for key institutions. like the customs service to allow the free passage of drugs and weapons; or positions in the Department of Energy for control of mines where the narco would launder money. Likewise, there would be an attorney for promotion to general Viktor Arauswhose American visa was revoked according to the US Ambassador to Ecuador, Michael Fitzpatrick mention that the country “Narco Generals” exists.
Attending the National Assembly, Bocsán blamed the government for any damage to his integrity and that of his team: “From the moment we step through that door, my life and that of my family, the life of my partner Luis Eduardo Vivanco and his family, our team and his family are the absolute responsibility of the Guillermo Lasso government“, he showed.
Digital media are touting that “they will remove the blindfold from the country”.
But he is looking for emissaries who anticipate the government’s false connection to the Albanian mafia.
Executive won’t give in to blackmail.
He will continue to fight the drug crimes of Gato Farfán, JR and accused judges.
— Communication Ecuador 🇪🇨 (@ComunicacionEc) February 13, 2023
A day before La Posta, the police report revealed the official Twitter account of the Communications Secretary to the Presidency, published that “a digital medium advertises that it is “deglaring the country”. But he is looking for emissaries who will give the government information about a false connection to the Albanian mafia. The executive will not give in to blackmail“. Since then, there has been no further government statement on the case.
Meanwhile, the former adviser to the President, Aparicio Caicedothe Minister of Agriculture, Bernard Manzanothe police officer Viktor ArausAnd Guillermo Lasso Alcivar, son of the president whose name appears in the La Posta investigation, spoke up. In the case of Caicedo and Lasso Alcívar, both assured that they were not involved in the case or with Chérres. For his part, Manzano assured that he had never met Chérres but as a minister and Araus assured that he had met with Chérres and Carrera two years ago but he had not known “that they were involved in anything”.
Continue reading:
Caso Encuentro: Details of the corruption scandal involving the brother-in-law of the President of EcuadorEcuador: Guillermo Lasso’s brother-in-law and former officials are accused of corruption