Petroecuador manager resigns after prosecutor’s raid on offices

The manager of the Ecuadorian state oil company PetroecuadorHugo Aguiar, resigned after his home was one of the places searched by the attorney general’s office in an investigation for alleged corruption, the country’s energy minister said on Friday.

Prosecutors raided the facilities of the state company and a presidential office in Quito on Friday morning.

“Tomorrow we will meet in extraordinary session at 10 in the morning”reported the Minister of Energy and Mines, Fernando Santos. “There he is accepted (the resignation) and a person in charge is appointed, we are going to name a person in charge to calmly see the profile of the definitive replacement.”

Aguiar presented the “voluntary and irrevocable resignation” in a letter addressed to the president of the Public Companies Coordinating Company, shared with the Ministry of Energy and the National Secretariat of Planning, which was seen by Reuters.

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The letter contained no other details and Aguiar could not immediately be reached for comment.

Although President Guillermo Lasso asked public company managers to vacate their positions in January amid allegations of possible corruption at some agencies, Petroecuador’s board confirmed Aguiar in his post last week.

Prosecutors went to Petroecuador’s offices in November after receiving information from US authorities about a case involving a former company official, and the former energy minister resigned amid a separate inquiry into bribery allegations that he denies.

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The Attorney General and the Police “They raid the offices of Management and Attorney of @EPPETROECUADOR, and of the Legal Undersecretary of the Presidency, in #Quito. Indications are raised related to the investigation for an alleged crime of corruption “the first agency reported on its Twitter account.

The prosecutor’s office clarified in a subsequent statement that the searches, which also included some homes, are part of the investigations into an alleged corruption case that would involve Petroecuador and that began in August 2022.

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In a statement on Twitter, Lasso’s press office said it will fully cooperate with prosecutors. “The government reiterates its zero tolerance against corruption. The government confirms its commitment and firm position in favor of transparency”advertisement.

Petroecuador retweeted the government statement and added in that Twitter post that the state company’s board of directors would hold an urgent extraordinary meeting.

Source: Reuters

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