The Ecuadorian Attorney General Office, also known as Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE), has filed a criminal lawsuit against Joaquín Francisco, a steel executive, for stock fraud.
Francisco is the general manager of Ecuador- Ersindustries, also known as ERSI-Ecuador, a local steel distributor that provided steel structures for an Ecuadorian metro line concession.
According to FGE, a judge in the Pichincha region has ordered Francisco to present himself at the Ecuadorian consulate in Lima, Peru, every eight days. Francisco is presumed to be in Peru. As a result of the charges, all assets owned by ERSI-Ecuador were frozen, including assets, funds and real estate.
Francisco reportedly created a trust to pay a loan for his group company in Panama. He also allegedly put all his companies’ assets into this trust, which created an unbalance in contracts ERSI-Ecuador had with companies like Adelca, an Ecuadorian steelmaker that provided much of the steel ERSI-Ecuador needed for the project.
By using fraudulent documents, ERSI-Ecuador reportedly couldn’t pay Adelca about $12.5 million in steel supplies.