Ecuadorian man bought houses in Portugal with corrupt funds

The former head of Ecuador's state oil company is accused of corruption.

He bought houses in Lisbon and Cascais for 8 million euros.

The former head of oil company Petroecuador, Nielsen Arias, has become an accused of corruption and money laundering in the US.

There is also an ongoing investigation in Ecuador.

It has now been revealed that he spent approximately €8 million to buy 14 houses in Lisbon and Cascais, allegedly using corrupt money.

With the help of these deals, he also arranged Portuguese citizenship for one of his children through the golden visa program.

According to official documents, Arias' wife purchased two apartments (T1 and T2) in 2015''in a residential complex in the Passo do Lumiar area of Lisbon for an amount of 605 thousand euros, in order to participate in the golden visa program.

Through the purchase of properties in Lisbon and Cascais, Arias' brother and one of his sons also obtained Portuguese citizenship through a family association granted by the golden visa program, according to Expresso newspaper, which, together with the Ecuadorean newspaper El Universo, carried out this investigation.

There is more to the story here than real estate.

The same publication notes that new purchases have been made since 2018, following Arias' departure from Petroecuador.

In total, Arias and his wife purchased real estate in Portugal over six years to the tune of €8 million.

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