MADRID 21 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of Mexico has reported this Wednesday that Walter Solís, former Ecuadorian Minister of Transportation and Public Works of the Government of Rafael Correa, “maintains his freedom” after it was reported that he had been detained by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). ) for a money laundering case.
The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that Solís “maintains his freedom and maintains his refugee status, which was granted to him in accordance with the established procedure,” which grants him the right to receive protection and remain as a resident” in the country.
“Mr. Solís is also protected by the principle of ‘non-refoulement to the country of origin, established in the Convention on the Status of Refugees, to which Mexico is a party. Throughout the process, he was accompanied by officials from the legal consultancy of the Chancellery to guarantee his safety and legal protection to which he is entitled,” reads a statement.
Hours before, the diplomatic portfolio reported that it had been in “permanent” communication with the Attorney General’s Office to “coordinate the actions that must proceed immediately, in order to guarantee the freedom” of the former minister and his right to remain as a resident.
The Ecuadorian Justice is investigating Solís for alleged money laundering in the Manabí Reconstruction case, in which Correa’s former vice president, Jorge Glas, who is currently detained in the La Roca prison in Guayaquil, is also being prosecuted. Solís was Minister of State since 2010, when he assumed the National Secretariat of Water, and in 2015 he moved to the Ministry of Public Works, until his resignation in 2016.
Solís received refugee status from Mexico in 2021. Two sentences weigh on him, one for the ‘Bribery’ case, for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison, and another for money laundering when he was in charge of the Secretariat of Agua, also sentenced to eight years in prison. He was recently linked to the Manabí Reconstruction case and a judge issued preventive detention.