The minister who sold jobs

Xavier Vera Grunauer, an engineer from Guayaquil, arrived at the Ministry of Energy and Mines on April 28, 2022. He had been deputy minister and, according to La Posta's reconstruction, switched sides within the government to the circle of Fabián Pozo and Marcos Miranda, the presidency boys, who also managed to install Hugo Aguiar as Petroecuador's manager when Ítalo Cedeño, the man of Danilo Carrera and Rubén Cherres, left. Fernando Villavicencio, from the Oversight Committee, had already flagged him for a conflict of interest: his family firm, Consultora Vera y Asociados, had overseen the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant. Vera said he left the firm on May 11, 2011, a month before the contract.

The case began with a message. Someone had sent it to the minister's phone and it reached the newsroom: Xavier Vera, I'm still waiting for you to honor the commitment. You pushed out our man, you made fools of us even after we paid you more than 150 thousand dollars and you carry on like nothing happened. Remember that debts get paid and you have a beautiful daughter. A threatened minister is a victim; the question was why they were trying to collect from him. On Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st of October, La Posta published the first piece: bills from the state utility Cnel showing a disability discount on the minister's electricity account, though he denied holding a disability card.

Three things converged in one week. On Wednesday, in the Danubio case, Doménica Vivanco had shown that Juan José Pons said they needed to meet with Vera to collect "those fifteen." The Petroecuador manager named him. And then the message. Over the weekend Boscán and Mónica Velásquez met with almost the minister's entire circle. His own people gave him up.

On Monday, October 24, 2022, Café La Posta devoted the whole show to Vera. First, an audio recording: someone close to the minister calls a journalist in the newsroom to reach a deal and stop Monday's story; the minister, sources said, was willing to pay 150,000 dollars for silence. Second, the circle: the wife they call "the minister," Alan Velasco "the butcher," Armando Robalino "el Chavo," Luis Sarmiento "the bloodhound." Third, a confidential document from the minister's team about a 150 million dollar Petroecuador tender split into four clusters, with notes on which Chinese company wanted which and which did not; and the switch of a shipment of mining material seized in Ibarra for gravel.

Fourth, the voice of Ítalo Cedeño, until recently Petroecuador's manager with ministerial rank: he asked me for two or three posts for people who were offering me money, millions of dollars for a post; if someone pays to get in, how much will they want to steal? Cedeño later said he had not said that; La Posta played it. And fifth, the central audio: Fabián Zamora, a lawyer, says by first and last name that he handed Xavier Vera more than 150,000 dollars personally for the Imbabura regional coordinator post at the Energy Regulation and Control Agency, which was later swapped for the Azuay post, and that in the end Alan Velasco sat down and everything changed.

On Tuesday the 25th Vera appeared before the National Assembly's Transparency Committee, chaired by Ferdinan Álvarez. He denied asking for money, said he had warned Cedeño about suspicious offers and that the audios were orchestrated by mafias. On Thursday, October 27, the Attorney General's Office raided his home in Guayaquil, his apartment in Cumbayá and his office at the ministry, and seized cellphones, a laptop, a tablet and documents. On Friday the 28th he resigned to defend himself against what he called slander. Lasso accepted. He was the first former minister of that government with the justice system on his heels.

The preliminary bribery investigation took seven months. On May 15, 2023, Vera was detained at the La Merced prosecutor's office in Guayaquil to ensure he appeared for the filing of charges, and was transferred to Quito; the formal investigation began on May 16 under Attorney General Diana Salazar. On January 10, 2024, he was sent to trial along with Adrián Zamora, Armando Robalino and Alan Velasco, accused as perpetrators and accomplices: the Attorney General's Office argued that Zamora paid 150,000 dollars for the post of regional coordinator at the energy agency. The hearing was postponed three times. Prosecutors sought seven years.

The National Assembly reacted the day after publication. Fernando Villavicencio, chair of the Oversight Committee, announced alongside assembly members Ricardo Vanegas and Sofía Sánchez that an impeachment request against the minister was being drafted. Vera resigned before it could move forward.

The trial opened in 2026 before judges Manuel Cabrera, Daniella Camacho and Hernán Barros of the National Court of Justice. They deliberated from April 21. On June 25, 2026, they found Vera, Zamora and Robalino not guilty: the substance of the crime was not established because the delivery of the 150,000 dollars was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The case against Velasco was extinguished by his death in May. The court acknowledged irregularities, audios about the handling of posts and inconsistencies in his assets, and ordered copies sent to the Attorney General's Office to assess other crimes. Expreso reported on June 27 that the court had upheld the acquittal.

The case left a lesson about evidence: the audio of a man who says he paid is not enough if the money never turns up. And another about the ministry: in less than a year, two former energy ministers were criminally investigated and a third faced an impeachment trial. Vera Grunauer returned to the private sector.