Glas goes to court Tuesday for pre-trial hearing

Vice President Jorge Glas will make his first court appearance Tuesday morning along with 10 others accused of illegal enrichment and illicit association in the Odebrecht corruption scandal. Glas faces a 10-count charge for his meetings and consultations with Odebrecht officials regarding government contracts.

Jorge Glas talks to reporters on Saturday. (El Telegrafo)

The vice president and the other defendants will appear in a pre-trial hearing before National Court Judge Miguel Jurado Fabara, who last week requested and received the permission of the National Assembly to bring the vice president to trial. Federal prosecutors will present the charges against the defendants at the hearing.

Glas expressed confidence Saturday that his legal team will disprove the charges against him. “I have the best lawyers on my side and they will challenge the merits of the prosecutor’s claims,” he said in Guayaquil. Glas repeated his claim of innocence, as well as his confidence in his legal team, Sunday after a meeting with Ecuadorian expats in Miami.

When asked by a reporter if he would return to Ecuador for Tuesday’s hearing, Glas said, “Jorge Glas does not run, Jorge Glas does not hide, I will be in court on Tuesday in Ecuador.”

Glas’ legal team includes Vicente Peralta, the former legal advisor to the vice president, Patricia Rodríguez, and Eduardo Franco Loor, an ex-National Court judge.

Among the other defendants ordered to appear Tuesday are Carlos Pólit, the former federal comptroller who is out of the country and considered a fugitive from justice, and and five officials of the Odebrecht corporation. Pólit’s taped conversation with an Odebrecht official, in which Glas was mentioned, is a key piece of evidence for the prosecution against the vice president.