Weekly Report - 15 October 2009 (WR-09-41)

ECUADOR | Corruption. The attorney general's office is investigating two senior government officials for alleged corruption denounced by Fabricio Correa, the brother of President Rafael Correa. The preliminary investigation involves the juridical secretary to the presidency, Alexis Mera; the secretary of administration, Vinicio Alvarado; and the government's former anti-corruption czar, Alfredo Vera. Fabricio Correa questioned why Mera had ignored a request by a judge to present his bookkeeping; why a company linked to Alvarado had suspiciously increased its profits since 2005; and why Vera, while he was a serving official, had approved a contract despite irregularities.
Fabricio Correa also accused Antonio Hidalgo, a relative of Vice-President Lení­n Moreno, of having requested a US$1.5m kickback for winning a public contract for Cosurca, a sister company of a company in which Fabricio is a majority shareholder. He said that Moreno knew about the irregularity. He presented the “evidence" to congress this week, arguing that he had no faith in the attorney general's office to carry out the investigation. Moreno accused Fabricio of calumny, and of trying to destabilise the government. Fabricio retorted that he was actually strengthening the government by helping to root out corrupt elements.
Fabricio Correa has an axe to grind. The transport and public works ministry unilaterally ended four contracts signed with companies linked with him last month after President Correa decided to distance his government from damaging allegations of influence peddling [WR-09-36].

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