Ecuador received US$93 million. Former International Trade Manager of Petroecuador says that compensation could have been better if authorities acted diligently.
The multinational Gunvor, one of the largest raw materials trading companies in the world, based in Switzerland, has to pay US$ 759.6 million for having been part of the bribery scheme to obtain oil contracts in Ecuador.
The money to be paid has to do with three different issues. The first is compensation to three countries for US$374.5 million.
The three beneficiary countries of this ruling are the United States with US$ 187.2 million, Switzerland with US$ 93.6 million and Ecuador an identical figure. But, the company will also have to give up profits from those contracts for US$287.1 million. Additionally, Gunvor will have to pay US$98 million more to Switzerland because this nation also filed a lawsuit against the multinational. This is what the ruling issued by the US Department of Justice reads.
Precisely the US$ 93 million that corresponds to Ecuador were paid on June 11. The State Attorney General's Office (PGE) reported that the funds were credited to the Single Account of the National Treasury and that the millionaire sum was agreed upon through a direct negotiation process with Gunvor, whose agreement was signed on June 6 by the attorney Juan Carlos Larrea.
Pablo Noboa, an expert on oil issues and former International Trade Manager at Petroecuador, comments that, although reparation is important, it is regrettable that this issue has not been promoted by the Ecuadorian authorities. This is because Ecuador could have received better compensation if the authorities had acted diligently (as Switzerland did at the time), but he believes that they rather sat back, although the complaints on the subject have been known since 2012.
However, remember that a criminal investigation process is still open, called the Alianza case in the State Attorney General's Office, in which the Gunvor company in Ecuador and former Petroecuador officials are being investigated for the crime of bribery.
Furthermore, in 2021 - since his administration as Foreign Trade Manager and in response to the request of the then assemblyman Fernando Villavicencio (killed in an attack when he was participating in the 2023 presidential campaign) - the company presented the bills of lading for the contracts to long term with Asian companies. There, the investigations and complaints that Villavicencio had carried out for more than ten years were confirmed, he says. “Villavicencio already said it, but the authorities did nothing,” he comments.
These bills of lading indicated that the Ecuadorian crude oil that had been delivered in direct contracts to Asian companies was being taken to Peru and Chile and, therefore, it was proven that there was intermediation. The most curious thing, Noboa indicates, is that Gunvor did not have contracts with Petroecuador, so the intermediation in favor of Gunvor took place through the Chinese state companies. This also contradicted the speech of the Correísta government, which assured that through these direct contracts intermediation was left aside, since rather the opposite was achieved.
He also remembers that in his period, after all this information and the beginning of the investigations against Gunvor, the International Trade management proceeded to remove this company from Petroecuador's registry, with the presumption of acts of bribery, and because a fact already existed investigation involving former Petroecuador officials.
Pablo Noboa explains that the ruling explains that Gunvor would have paid US$97 million to Petroecuador officials and lobbyists who facilitated said contracts. These payments were made through United States banks. This was the door for American justice to enter the investigation.
And the ruling also indicates that the US Department of Justice previously obtained convictions in the Eastern District of New York for four people involved in the Gunvor bribery scheme, including:
Antonio Peré Ycaza, a former Gunvor consultant, pleaded guilty on October 7, 2020 to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Enrique Peré Ycaza, a former Gunvor consultant, also pleaded guilty on October 7, 2020 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the FCPA.
Raymond Kohut, a former employee and agent of Gunvor, pleaded guilty on April 6, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
And Nilsen Arias Sandoval, a former senior Petroecuador official, pleaded guilty on January 19, 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
