Vice President Glass might go to jail

ECUADOR - In Brief 02 Oct 2017 by Magdalena Barreiro

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The Attorney General, Carlos Baca Mancheno, requested this morning that the National Court issue an order of "preventive prison" for Vice President Jorge Glass and his uncle Ricardo Rivera --both implied in cases of corruption, bribery and illicit association. The reason behind the prison request for Glass is to "avoid his escaping from the country" while for Rivera there is a direct accusation of violating his home arrest. The judge from the National Court in charge of deciding whether or not to issue the prison orders will have until 5 pm today to do so.In the meanwhile, Glass continues to claim his innocence and declared he will not resign to his office as Vicepresident because that would imply accepting he is guilty. Legislators from the Alianza Pais party are currently debating whether or not to request Glass to resign, after the officialist Jose Serrano, president of the Assembly publicly requested Glass "to step aside", but there but there is no consensus in the official block. Some on the ultra-Correista side insist there is not enough proof against him yet, and will not accept a new request from the opposition to impeach the Vice president.Even if Glass goes to jail under the preventive prison order, the Ecuadorian constitution would not consider his as a permanent absence but a transitory one that cannot go beyond the legal period of three months. President Moreno would have to appoint one of the ministers in his cabinet to act as deputy vice-president. Only if Glass is finally convicted and a definitive court sentence is issued, or if the Assembly impeaches him, he will cease in his office. In this case, the Assembly will have to select a new vicepresident f...