Former Ecuadorian President Correa's reelection campaign reportedly financed by laundered money

The 2013 re-election campaign of former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa may have been financed with money laundered by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro’s alleged front man and Colombian businessman, Alex Saab.

That is the finding of a 125-page report released by Ecuador’s Congressional Oversight Commission.

According to the report, Saab used SUCRE, the digital compensation system of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA,) to launder money through the payment of fictitious or undervalued exports between Ecuador and Venezuela.  Correa, who was sentenced in absentia in 2020 to eight years in prison for corruption, is currently living in exile in Belgium, Infobae reported. 

SUCRE, also known as ALBA's virtual currency, was a monetary mechanism designed to channel international payments among its member countries: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The head of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Guillermo Avellán, explained in the report that between 2010 and 2019 Ecuador used the electronic system almost exclusively for trade with Venezuela and approximately 99 percent of Ecuador’s $2.6 billion in exports registered through SUCRE were to Venezuela. Similarly, 82.3 percent of imports were tied to Caracas – with the remaining 17.7 percent tied to Cuba.  

The report also found that at least $70 million left the country for foreign bank accounts. Saab’s company – Fondo Global de Construcción – whose subsidiary operated in Ecuador at the time – transferred $23 million from Ecuadorian accounts to Panama’s Clever Financial Investment Services; $20 million to Blue Numbers Securities Inc. Punta Pacífica; $11 million to Fondo Global de Construcción SAC in Peru; and more than $20 million were transferred to other unnamed companies across the region.  

Last month, Saab pleaded not guilty in federal court in the United States. Although a Florida judge dropped seven of the eight money laundering charges against him, he still faces a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering – punishable by up to 20 years in prison.