Ecuador president demands probe into predecessor’s oil projects – Reuters

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno on Thursday asked the country’s prosecutor to probe $4.9 billion of oil-related infrastructure projects, alleging that the OPEC nation’s money was looted during the decade-long tenure of his leftist predecessor. Moreno said there were massive cost overruns, operational failings and non-transparent bidding processes at the five projects built during Rafael Correa’s presidency, including a $2.2 billion upgrade to the Esmeraldas refinery. “Nearly $5 billion of Ecuadoreans’ money, when it should have cost half that,” Moreno said in a national broadcast. “This theft of public funds cannot go unpunished.” Read more>>