Corruption in Ecuador

Corruption in Ecuador is a serious problem. According to a report by Adam Zuckerman, "institutionalized graft has become a driving force" of Ecuador's economy, and this graft is "flourishing in a vacuum of transparency or accountability". The same report indicated that "the entire business class of Guayaquil" owns offshore bank accounts. David Rosero, a member of the opposition party and a member of Ecuador's Council for Citizen Participation, has stated that $2 billion is lost annually to corruption.

On Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ecuador scored 32 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Ecuador ranked 121st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the best score among the countries of the Americas was 76, the average score was 42 and the worst score was 10. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).

A 2014 report by the Organization of American States urged the Ecuadoran Prosecutor's Office to remove barriers to processing corruption complaints and prosecutions.

When Rafael Correa took office as president in 2007, he announced a “revolution against corruption.” Only five weeks into his tenure, Correa undermined the Civic Anti-Corruption Commission, formed in 1998, by establishing the National Anticorruption Secretariat, which gave public officials the job of investigating corruption. Ten months later, he abolished the commission entirely and replaced it with the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control. This council, which was entirely under his personal control, was placed above the National Anticorruption Secretariat and diluted its powers.

During its first six years, the Secretariat reportedly refused to say how many corruption complaints it had processed. In 2011, the Secretariat stated that it was aware of 1412 active cases, 442 within the Secretariat's jurisdiction and 970 under the jurisdiction of other government sectors, and that there was also a three-year backlog of 3,500 cases.

According to one source, the Council for Citizen Participation does not, in practice, actually investigate corruption charges. Moreover, it has had the power since 2009 to appoint the Attorney General and other top government officials, and its appointees have included persons accused of corruption, such as Attorney General Galo Chiriboga, who was charged with forgery.

A 2011 referendum approved constitutional changes to increase Correa's powers over the media and the judiciary. The vote temporarily replaced the Judicial Council, an independent body that appointed, promoted, and fired judges, with a transition council appointed partly by the president, which fired scores of judges in August and September 2011.

In 2013, Correa instituted something called the National Plan for the Prevention and Fight Against Corruption 2013-2017, which has been called “a complete nonstarter" by critics.