During a U.S. trial, it emerged that the largest oil traders allegedly bribed Ecuadorian officials to secure lucrative oil supply contracts. The report came from Bloomberg.
According to Nielsen Arias, the former chief executive of the state oil company Petroecuador, as well as brokerage siblings Antonio and Enrique Pere, at least 20 to 24 individuals received bribes. The group included workers from the oil company, the Ministry of Finance, and the president’s administration in Ecuador.
Evidence shows that part of the 13.5 million dollars received by Arias from Gunvor was used to purchase a 70,000 dollar Patek Philippe watch, which was seized as part of the investigation. In addition, 120 thousand dollars from Gunvor funded renovations to Arias’s bathrooms in Portugal.
Other names tied to the bribery allegations include representatives from Vitol, Trafigura, Noble Group, Petredec, and Sargeant Marine. The size of the commissions appears in detailed tables, such as a fuel oil contract with Vitol where brokers were paid roughly 25 cents per barrel.
Antonio Pere claimed that his total bribes exceeded 100 million dollars. When asked whether he occasionally assisted clients without demanding bribes, the intermediary indicated he did not recall such instances.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak linked certain discounts on Russian oil to European Union sanctions, suggesting political and regulatory factors intersect with pricing dynamics in the region.
Additional recent developments include a separate Ukrainian case involving a judge accused of taking bribes from draft dodgers, illustrating broader patterns of corruption across multiple sectors and borders.