QUITO.NOV.27.11.2020 (Ane Agency) ._ A former manager of the oil company Vitol and the Sargeant Marine company were investigated and accused by the North American justice of bribing officials of the state-owned PETROECUADOR and money laundering between 2016 and 2018.
The Ecuadorian officials or former officials involved have not yet been identified and if they were, no investigation has been opened by the State Attorney General’s Office. The Vitol oil company case began after a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, USA, formally accused the Mexican oil businessman, Javier Aguilar, of having bribed PETROECUADOR officials. Aguilar was charged with two counts: conspiracy to violate US legal control against acts of corruption, FCPA and money laundering.
According to the North American judicial investigation, this subject allegedly paid $ 870,000 in bribes to help him win a contract for the sale of fuel for $ 300 million summoned by the state-owned PETROECUADOR. According to the investigation, Aguilar and officials from the state oil company simulated the signing of several consulting agreements with intermediaries and shell companies abroad to pay for receiving the bribes. The accused held an important position in the Vitol group, which has its headquartered in Belgium and which, among its activities, is dedicated to the oil trade.
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