#Ecuadorian #prosecutor #investigating #expresident #missing #artefacts
Ecuadorian prosecutors said Monday they are investigating former President Lenin Moreno over the disappearance of priceless artifacts from the presidential palace.
Prosecutors said on Twitter that they were searching Moreno’s apartment “as part of an investigation into the alleged crime of embezzlement in connection with the alleged disappearance of cultural property” from Government House.
Embezzlement is punishable by up to 13 years in prison in Ecuador.
Moreno, who was president from 2017 to 2021, has been accused by an ally of his predecessor Rafael Correa of taking the artifacts.
Moreno was Correa’s vice president from 2007 to 2013, but the two fell out and became enemies.
Correa currently lives in exile in Belgium, which granted him asylum after being convicted of bribery in absentia and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Moreno dismissed the allegations in a Twitter post as “just another story among the many that have been made up.”
He said he opened his home for the search.
Moreno claims the archaeological pieces allegedly disappeared from the seat of government during his presidency “have been appropriately handed over to the relevant institutions for registration and preservation.”
During his presidency, Correa opened a museum in the Presidential Palace to display jewels and other gifts he received on his official engagements, but Moreno later closed it.
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