Ecuador's top prosecutor said on Monday he would present evidence of corruption against the country's embattled vice president, who was stripped of his duties by a presidential decree that stopped short of firing him earlier this month.
Vice President Jorge Glas was sidelined early this month by President Lenin Moreno, who accused him of not being a team player after the vice president said the government was publishing false economic data.
Prosecutor Carlos Baca told reporters his office had evidence of "illicit association" against Glas, in a case linked to the regional corruption scandal centering on Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
"We will request the National Court of Justice set a hearing date against Jorge Glas, the vice president," Baca read from a statement. Before the court can hear the evidence, a minimum 92 of Ecuador's 137 members of congress must vote to allow an investigation into a sitting vice president.
Glas says he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
"I have never allowed corruption or been a part of it," he told a news conference called after Baca's announcement.
Odebrecht is involved in a sprawling corruption saga and has already paid $3.5 billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland, embroiling politicians across Latin America.
