Ecuadorean Authorities Detain Former Vitality Minister in Bribery Probe

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadorean authorities have detained a former vitality minister amid an investigation into alleged bribery linked to state oil agency Petroecuador, the lawyer common’s workplace mentioned on Monday.

An investigation of Xavier Vera, Ecuador’s former minister of mines and vitality, started final October following a number of corruption allegations, together with that he organized jobs at Petroecuador in change for bribes.

“The lawyer common’s workplace, with the assist from (Ecuadorean police) executed an arrest warrant in opposition to Xavier V., inside an investigation for alleged bribery,” the lawyer common’s workplace wrote in a message through Twitter, referring to Vera.

Vera, who served for six months earlier than resigning final October, has denied the accusations, calling them slanderous and an effort to discredit the federal government of President Guillermo Lasso.

He resigned hours after prosecutors raided his properties in capital Quito and coastal metropolis Guayaquil, in addition to his workplace and a Quito lodge the place one other individual linked to the case had been staying.

Within the tweet, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned it had arrested Vera with the intention to guarantee he seem at his arraignment listening to, with out giving additional particulars.

“The previous minister has left the nation greater than as soon as since these processes started. He is not operating away from the investigation, he is not operating away from the method,” Vera’s lawyer, Carlos Sanchez, advised native tv channel Ecuavisa.

Vera’s detention comes as opposition lawmakers push for impeachment proceedings in opposition to Lasso for alleged embezzlement in reference to a contract at state-owned oil transportation firm Flopec, which may result in his removing from workplace.

Lasso denies the accusation and says his administration made adjustments to the contract, which was signed years earlier than he took workplace, to learn the state.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito; Writing by Sarah Morland; Modifying by Matthew Lewis)

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