Hotel sales records show it’s ‘all in the family’ in IESS corruption case, says Assembly member

National Assemblyman Adrian Castro said Wednesday that the sale and purchase of a hotel north of Cuenca’s historic district is a “smoking gun” in the larger IESS hospital scandal, “Look at the numbers and there is no doubt these transactions illegally enriched the family of [employee union president] Rosa Argudo,” Castro said.

The San Antonio Hotel on Calle Presidente Borrero.

Castro and the other Azuay Province Assembly members released sales records for the San Antonio Hotel which is owned by the Jose Carrasco Arteaga IESS hospital employees’ union.

Sales activity shows the hotel, located on Presidente Borrero at Rafael María Arizaga, was purchased in 2006 by Terreros Ortiz, Argudo’s husband for $102,700, then sold in 2018 to Juan José Cordero, the husband of Argudo’s daughter, for $600,000.

Six weeks later, Cordero sold the hotel to the hospital union, headed by his mother-in-law. The sales price: $750,000.

“We will await results of the investigation but there is no doubt these transactions go beyond being suspicious,” Castro said. “This is a family affair where everyone seems to get rich with hospital employees being the victims.”

According to Castro, the hotel is “small, poorly located, with an extremely low occupancy rate” and has produced no income for the union since it was purchased. “I suspect the shortfall in operating costs is covered by union members but, again, we must wait for results of the full investigation.”