Ecuador has requested criminal assistance from China in three corruption cases investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office. The Asian nation has not responded.
Former President Rafael Correa presents an award to Cai Runguo, former Chinese ambassador to Ecuador, in front of Ricardo Patiño and Lenín Moreno, on December 1, 2010.
Between 2010 and 2019, more than USD 22.580 million arrived from China to Ecuador as loans granted by EximBank and the Development Bank, both public banking entities of the Asian nation.
These capitals were used for the construction of dozens of works of the self-styled citizen revolution. The cases of Coca Codo Sinclair, Toachi Pilatón, ECU-911 and the Quito Government Financial Platform stand out.
The granting of these credits was conditional on the contracting of Chinese companies for the construction of the works.
Prominent among the companies are the names of Sinohydro and China CAMC Engineering. Today these companies are singled out for cases of corruption. Both would have paid bribes in Ecuador to finalize their hiring and to dispel glosses before the General Comptroller of the State.
No answers
Due to the relationship of Chinese companies, businessmen and even officials in these plots, the cases have reached transnational connotations. However, the collaboration of the Chinese authorities to resolve the cases has been nil.
Since the alleged irregularities in these cases began to be investigated, the Prosecutor’s Office has requested assistance from China for three processes:
- Odebrecht
- China CAMC
- Sinohydro
Only in the last case, the Prosecutor’s Office has made 10 insistences since July 2019. But so far none have been answered.
In this process there is a special addition. One of those involved is Cai Runguo , who was the Chinese ambassador to Ecuador. And, later, he became a representative of Sinohydro, a company that would have paid bribes related to Coca Codo Sinclair.
Diana Salazar, Attorney General, explained to PRIMICIAS that China has not shown any interest in these cases. She even assures that there is no communication channel, since there has been no response.
Part of the difficulty, explains the official, is that the central authority in terms of criminal cooperation is a ministry outside the Prosecutor’s Office, so it has not been possible to establish a relationship with its counterpart.
Orders and cases
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Odebrecht case: The only answer
After the Odebrecht case broke out in Ecuador and ended with a six-year sentence, for illicit association, against former Vice President Jorge Glas and his uncle Ricardo Rivera, the Prosecutor’s Office opened other investigations around those events.
One of these, for alleged money laundering, pointed to Tomislav Topic, owner of the Telconet telecommunications company. Although the case never materialized, in the previous investigation the Prosecutor’s Office asked China for collaboration.
This was the only one you see that the Asian country responded to Ecuador. Although, the response was contrary to the thesis of money laundering raised by the Public Ministry. China explained that the funds in question were legal, so the case was watered down.
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Bribes from China CAMC
Another of the cases involving China was baptized by the Prosecutor’s Office as China CAMC. The name to that reference to the related company.
According to the Public Ministry, the Asian company delivered USD 1.3 million in bribes to former comptroller Pablo Celi. In exchange, the former official would have ordered the fading of glosses related to the construction of the Financial Platform.
The money from that bribe would have come from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, another state bank.
For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office requested information on that transaction. However, there was no response.
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Sinohydro case: Without assistance and without lawyers
In the Sinohydro case, the Prosecutor’s Office has just filed charges against 37 people. Among these are five Chinese citizens.
At its head is former ambassador Cai Runguo . And the former representatives of Sinohydro: Yan Huijun, Song Dongsheng, Wu Yu and Liu Aisheg.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, these Asian businessmen received USD 1.1 million as their share of the bribes that the Chinese company paid to access the Coca Codo Sinclair contract.
In this case, the Prosecutor’s Office has sent 10 requests for international criminal assistance. But none have been answered.
Furthermore, before the National Court of Justice, none of the Chinese citizens appeared. Nor did they hire lawyers. All will be represented by the Public Defender.
