Doubts about BIESS investments cause resignations

Gustavo Abdo Lopez and Javier Orti Torres

Due to a supposed ‘media persecution’, after it was discovered some alleged anomalies in the Banco del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (BIESS), two top officials resigned from their posts yesterday.

Gustavo Abdo Lopez, who held the position of Trust manager and Javier Orti Torres, head of Real Estate Business Trust, submitted their resignation letter yesterday, dated April 2, before the president of the Board of BIESS, Ramiro Gonzalez and the General manager Efrain Herrera Vieira.

“The decision, said the letter, esa taken  in response to the constant harassment and persecution  from the media for the last two weeks for alleged irregularities in our duties,” pointed out the letter and also said that these allegations are false and without support.

It was late last year that the scandal of the alleged anomalies in the BIESS investments was discovered, after the Internal Audit Unit BIESS (UAI), the private Consult Company Goldenbond, and the Superintendency of Banks reported their findings.

According to the IAU, not a single one of the 49 investments had the approvals of the Board or Trustees of the Business Committee, while Goldenbond informed that 15 of the projects they found had that deficiency.