Government to ask U.S. for the extradition of former Central Bank director and cousin of Correa; he is charged with embezzling $800,000

Ecuador’s attorney general Galo Chiriboga said he expects the United States to extradite a cousin of President Rafael Correa on a conviction of embezzlement. Chiriboga says he will meet with U.S. Ambassador Adam Namm to discuss the extradition.

Former Central Bank Director Pedro Delgado.

On Monday, the National Court of Justice convicted Pedro Delgado for embezzling $800,000 from the Ecuador Central Bank, which he directed until December 2012, when he left Ecuador following the disclosure that he had lied about his education on his resume.

It is believed that Delgado is living in Miami.

Correa named Delgado Central Bank director in November 2011. A month later, the state-owned Cofiec bank granted a fraudulent $800,000 loan to Gaston Duzac, an Argentine friend of Delgado’s. Also convicted was Duzac, believed to be in Argentina, and the bank’s then-president, Antonio Buñay, an in-law of Delgado.

Chiriboga said he also plans to talk to Argentina officials about the extradition of Duzac. He said he expects both the U.S. and Argentina to honor the extradition requests. Both Delgado and Duzac face prison terms of eight years.

Buñay’s whereabouts is unknown although police say they believe he is still in Ecuador.

In the resume scandal, Delgado admitted that the claim he had earned a master’s degree in finance from a Costa Rica university was false. After the disclosure, Correa called him a “disgrace to Ecuador and a disgrace to my family.”

The embezzlement charges were filed in early 2013.