Espinel Added to the List of Guilty Bankers

Ministry of Agriculture, Ramon Espinel Martinez, has been added to the list of former bankers that are supposed to be responsible for the financial system bankrupt that began on 1998.

State newspaper “El Telégrafo” based his information thanks to the initiative of the site EcuaLeaks after revealing classified information about Superintendencia de Bancos y Seguros. The documents explain the reasons of the financial collapse.

The Secretary of State is also linked to the Banco del Agro S.A. (Finagro) due to his participation as a shareholder and executive president. According to the document released yesterday the information also links the ministry brother, Marcos Espinel.

Finagro went to bankruptcy on 1999, and the financial entity was seized by the Agencia de Garantias y Depositos (AGD) as part of the cleaning up process of corrupt financial entities.

Several bankers were also quoted by newspaper El Telegrafo as involved in the same list. They names that appear in the list are: Cesar Duran-Ballen, brother of the former president Sixto Duran-Ballen; Nicolas Febres-Cordero, brother of the late Leon Febres-Cordero; Francisco Asan, mayor of Milagro; Estefano Isaias former shareholder of Filanbanco; Jose Nebot brother of the mayor of Guayaquil, among others.

The title of ministry of Agriculture for Espinel is being questioned by the political circles that state that because he has pending issues with the State, he cannot exercise any public office.