QUITO, April 16 (Reuters) – Ecuador’s state oil company Petroecuador has asked three of its Asian clients to demonstrate that they were not involved in a bribery scheme linked to commodities trading house Gunvor Group, according to documents seen by Reuters on Friday.
The requests come after a former Gunvor employee early this month pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of bribing Ecuadorean officials to win business with the company. Petroecuador nixed Gunvor from its list of authorized suppliers in response.
In the letters dated April 7, Petroecuador asked China’s Unipec Asia and Petrochina International, as well as Thailand’s PTT International Trading, to produce affidavits confirming that the companies and their employees “did not have anything to do with the possible acts of corruption” involving Geneva-based Gunvor.
“Until the company sends the requested information, they…
