Ecuador's Comptroller Celi Detained For Alleged Corruption

Ecuador's Attorney General Diana Salazar on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Comptroller General Pablo Celi and former Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic Jose Augusto Briones to be investigated in corruption cases.

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The Prosecutor's Office executed 25 raids in Quito and Guayaquil in the framework of the "Las Torres" case, an investigation related to organized crime and corruption in the public company Petroecuador, the Comptroller's Office, and the Secretariat of the Presidency.

In the police raids, authorities seized documents, electronic devices, financial information, computers, cell phones, money, and safes.

So far, over 10 people have been arrested for the Las Torres case.  Among them are the brother of the Comptroller and the brother of the Presidency Secretary.

"Celi assumed the function of deputy comptroller after the resignation of Carlos Polit in 2018," outlet RT recalled, adding that his nephew, Raul de la Torre, who was an advisor to the former Petroecuador manager, was arrested in Miami in 2019 when he was carrying $250,000 in cash without having declared it. The Controller's nephew pleaded guilty in Florida courts to money laundering.

Regarding this new political scandal, Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno said he will respect the actions of the control institutions.

I knew about the detentions and raids that happened early this morning.  As has been my custom from the first moment, my respect for the independence and autonomy of the functions of the State," he tweeted.