2024-04-02 05:49:51
INVESTIGATION. –
Judge Javier de la Cadena issued preventive detention against former assemblyman Pablo Muentes, the former president of the Court of Justice of Guayas, María Fabiola Gallardo and seven others involved in the Purga case.
The decision was made on the night of March 5, 2024. Muentes is accused of being one of the leaders of an alleged criminal structure that influenced the decisions of the Court of Justice of Guayas. The Prosecutor’s Office also reported that the judge decided to prohibit the sale of movable and immovable property worth USD 3.9 million and ordered the retention of accounts that the defendants have in the national financial system.
Prosecutor Diana Salazar exposed the connections between Muentes, María Fabiola Gallardo, former president of the Court of Guayas and Mayra Salazar, the latter prosecuted for the Metastasis case. Muentes would have benefited from a sentence related to a habeas data filed for a debt that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, originated from a loan requested by the former assemblyman and his partner from Banco del Pacífico.
According to Diana Salazar, Muentes would have falsified documents to argue that the debt was paid. In the end, he received compensation of almost USD 4 million from Banco del Pacífico.
Regarding Gallardo, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that he would have benefited the Corps of Engineers with a court ruling against the Metropolitan Public Works Company of the Municipality of Quito.
A connection was also established between Muentes, Gallardo and Mayra Salazar, the latter prosecuted for the Metastasis case. Salazar would have operated a ‘troll center’ in favor of the former president of the Court who, according to conversations revealed at the hearing,