Diego Fernando Ordóñez, an alternate city councillor in Quito, is under investigation for the unlawful and undeclared attempted transport of $104,490 dollars out of the country. Court documents say he was leaving the country with the money to pay off a debt with a foreign company. 

The councillor and his wife were scheduled to board American Airlines flight 932 to Miami at 6:30 a.m. on March 26. Officers found $60,000 in Ordónez’s checked back and shoes, and the rest of the cash in his wife’s luggage and handbag. Any cash over $10,000 needs to be declared at the border.

An anonymous tipster’s phone call to 1800 DROGAS led to the involvement of the Money Laundering unit at the District Attorney’s office, and he was stopped.

In his preliminary statement to the court, Ordónez stated that he was providing technological equipment to the Judicial department. He says he received a cheque from the Central Bank for $105,000 a few days before the trip, and cashed it at the Banco Internacional.

In her statement, Ordóñez’s wife says she doesn’t have anything to do with her husband’s business dealings: she’s just a housewife and she takes care of their daughter.

Records on the Internal Revenue (SRI) website show that in 2009, when he started his work as a councillor, Ordónez declared a monthly income of $1,259. In 2010/11 and 2011/12, he declared incomes of $188 and $892 respectively. Between 2005 and 2012, he paid zero taxes declaring himself as a dependent of the Cosideco and Shyris Petroleum companies. Between 2003 and 2008 he paid no taxes because he declared an income of less than $1,000.

Ordóñez’s past travel is now under investigation. The confiscated cash is in evidence control.

Law enforcement says he may have removed a total of $570,000 in cash from the country since 2009, and paid taxes on none of it.

Because Quito’s city council doesn’t have an Ethics Code, the politician is allowed to continue his work, and in the case of the primary councillor’s absence, he could fill his role. He could only be suspended in the case of a guilty verdict. He is forbidden to leave the country and has a weekly appointment with a judge until the trial. On April 30 there will be a preliminary hearing.

Original story