The government admits that president Moreno met with Manafort

Ecuadornews:

Paul Manafort, former campaign director of US President Donald Trump, leaves court on Monday, October 30, 2017, in Washington, DC (USA). A US judge ordered the detention under house arrest for Paul Manafort, former campaign director of the current president, Donald Trump, and set bail of 10 million dollars, which he will have to pay if he violates the conditions of his imprisonment.

The National Secretariat of Communication has admitted, through a statement, that President Lenin Moreno met in Quito with Paul Manafort, the director of the election campaign of the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Who is currently investigated by the United States Attorney’s Office for alleged money laundering and accused of being related to the Russian plot, according to which the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, helped Trump to win the elections.

“After his victory in the April 2 ballot and his possession on May 24, then-president-elect Lenin Moreno maintained a series of telephone contacts and personal meetings with leaders, diplomats and representatives of organizations of the broadest ideological spectrum to strengthen the presence of Ecuador in the world, in order to diversify the political, commercial, investment, tourism and cooperation ties and, in parallel, build a new stage of dialogue and negotiation in bilateral relations, “says the National Secretariat of Communication.

“In that line, Santiago Cuesta asked President Moreno to receive a delegation from a Chinese company that had expressed interest in acquiring a percentage of the shares of the National Electricity Corporation he adds. In that delegation was Paul J. Manafort Jr., as investor.

“The proposal was rejected for violating the constitutional regulations of Ecuador,” explains the official.

Santiago Cuesta is the director of CMS, the polling company that worked with Moreno during his electoral campaign.

On Sunday, former President Rafael Correa revealed, in an interview broadcast by the Associated Press, that Moreno met with Manafort as president-elect, and asked him to explain “the visit of a guy like Manafort who has remained hidden, and kept that visit a secret to the Ecuadorian people “.

According to the United States prosecutor’s Office, in March of this year, Manafort registered a telephone number and an email account under an alias and used that device to travel to Ecuador on May 9, to China on May 23 and to make another trip to Mexico in June of this year, as it appears in the reports of the prosecutor’s Office. (I)

Source: http://www.larepublica.ec/blog/portada/2017/11/20/gobierno-admite-que-moreno-se-reunio-con-manafort/