The situation of Fito Macias’ wife in Ecuador
The State Attorney General, Diana Salazarindicated that steps were being taken regarding a previous investigation that remains confidential.
“We are carrying out the respective procedures to make a decision on the legal situation of Mrs. Peñarrieta,” he assured the Colombian media outlet NTN24.
For at least seven years the authorities of Ecuador They suspect Fito Macias’ wife and investigate her dizzying transition from nurse to wealthy businesswoman. The first case began on June 29, 2017.
The prosecutor Cesar Suarez – murdered this week in Guayaquil – filed charges of alleged organized crime against 21 people, among whom was Adolfo Macías, alias ‘Fito’, who was already in prison at that time, as were seven other defendants in the case.
However, from prison, these people – in complicity with others outside the prison – headed a structure dedicated to vehicle theft, hitman and extortionin Manta.
Suárez, who at that time was working as Manta’s prosecutor, had intercepted several calls from the defendants. Therefore, he asked that the expert voice recognition of several suspects and one of them was Mariela Peñarrieta, wife of ‘Fito’.
Based on these indications, on October 4, 2017, Suárez requested the bonding de Peñarrieta and 16 other people. In total, there were already 38 defendants in that case. Among the elements presented by Suárez to link Peñarrieta were the calls and messages that he had had with ‘Fito’.
The financial situation of Fito Macias’ wife
In addition to what was mentioned above, a financial analysis report of the wife of the Ecuadorian drug trafficker also drew attention, since the woman had income US$1.1 million and expenses of US$108,000.
However, on November 11, 2017, prosecutor Suárez refrained from accusing Peñarrieta, so the judge in the case dismissed and released of the alleged responsibility in this case, according to the information reconstructed by Primicias.
According to the case file, Suárez presented the abstention ruling one day before the hearing in which it was to be decided whether the defendants were called to trial. In addition to Mariela Peñarrieta, due to the abstentional ruling of prosecutor Suárez, they benefited Jorge and Julio Peñarrieta Tuárezbrothers of the woman and brothers-in-law of ‘Fito’.
In March 2018, ‘Fito’ accepted the crime and underwent an abbreviated procedure. For this reason, he received a reduced sentence of 28 months in prison.
In 2020, the Prosecutor’s Office began a preliminary investigation for money laundering, tax fraud and private enrichment unjustified, from several people close to ‘Fito’.
With reports from the financial system, the Superintendency of Companies, the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) and the Financial Analysis Unit (UAFE), the tax investigation was opened and filed charges for the three crimes against: Mariela Peñarrieta. Jorge and Julio César Peñarrieta Tuárez (brothers of Inda Mariela), previously also dismissed in the case for organized crime. Ronald Macías Villamar (brother of ‘Fito’). Ramón Macías Intriago (cousin of ‘Fito’).
In Peñarrieta’s accounts, in eight banks and a cooperative, deposits entered US$2.1 millionbetween 2013 and 2019. She is also a shareholder and manager of the companies Queenwater SA and the Heavy Cargo transportation company, Jomavi SA, both domiciled in Manabí.
Three months later, in November 2020, the judge Juan Espinosa dismissed all defendants. The Prosecutor’s Office appealed and the Provincial Court of Manabi revoked the dismissal order in February 2021.
But in July 2022, the Court of Criminal Guarantees of Manta, made up of judges Mary Quintero Prado, José Luis Alarcón Bowen and Loren Romero Cedeño, heard the process for a final appeal by the defendants and ratified the ruling of the first instance judge, declaring the innocence from them.
All the members of Fito Macias’ close group entered Argentina legally on January 5 and they stayed in a luxurious house in the country of Córdoba, a property that they apparently paid in cash in November 2023. They arrived a few days before Fito’s escape became known and there was no alert on them.
Source: Ambito
