COFIEC Never Had the Guarantees of Duzac’s loan

Roberto Sandoval and Omar Unda

The alleged deposit certificates  of Rocafuerte Insurance,  which guaranteed the credit of $ 800 thousand granted by COFIEC to the Argentinean Gaston Duzac were never in the bank, which belongs to the Management Unit of Public Right (Ugedep for its Spanish acronym). That’s why the credit was paid out and then transferred to a foreign account without the necessary legal backup.

Sebastian Romero Lopez, current legal representative of Rocafuerte Insurance confirmed the fact with the certification sent to the Investigation Commission of the Assembly. Romero pointed out that the insurance Company “never endorsed any deposit certificate to COFIEC bank, and never handed over any assets as a guarantee for a natural or judicial person,” adding that “they were never in physical possession of COFIEC bank, because it has remained always under the custody of Banco Bolivariano, even during december 2011 when te credit was granted.”

However, in the past days, the former executive president of COFIEC, Antonio Bunay, gave to the Commission copies of such endorsed certificates. Due to the nonexistence of the guarantees, the prosecutor Maria Susana Rodriguez, during the arraignment hearing against two former members of the COFIEC board: Omar Unda and Roberto Sandoval, ordered the apprehension of the accused for future questioning. The police arrived at their homes on Monday around 23:00 (GMT). AV