Loma Larga mine owner is accused of influence peddling in donation to Noboa’s wife’s charity

Former presidential candidate and environmental attorney Yaku Pérez has filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General against Dundee Precious Metals, owner of the Loma Larga mine in Azuay Province. Pérez claims Dundee made “economic and material donations” to a charity headed by President Daniel Noboa’s wife Lavinia Valbonesi days before it was granted an environmental license to begin mining operations.

Cuenca environmental attorney and former presidential candidate Yaku Pérez reads a statement Tuesday at the Attorney General’s office in Quito.

The complaint, which was delivered Tuesday afternoon, also names Noboa and Valbonesi.

“Now we know why Dundee received its permit to proceed with this project and why the environmental study by the city of Cuenca was ignored,” Pérez said outside the Attorney General’s office. Among other charges, the complaint alleges that “influence peddling and bribery” occurred when Dundee made donations to Valbonesi’s Project ANA.

The Ministry of Mining accepted Dundee’s environmental study that concluded that its gold mine would cause “minimal damage” to the high-altitude Kimsakocha hydrological system in the Cuenca canton.

In the complaint, Pérez asks the Attorney General to: “Admit the complaint and initiate the corresponding preliminary investigation. The requested evidentiary measures should notify the possible perpetrators in the case so that all the necessary steps can be taken to clarify the facts. Protection of witnesses and complainants should be guaranteed, especially in areas of social conflict.”

Unless “positive” notice is received from prosecutors, Pérez said that mass protests will begin near the Loma Larga mine site, south of Cuenca, in September.

More than a dozen Cuenca professional and social organizations have announced their opposition to the mine. On Sunday, the medical staff of SOLCA, a Cuenca cancer hospital, joined the protest, claiming the mine would increase incidences of cancer in the area.

“The relationship between cases of cancer and the presence of heavy metals in the water supply is well established,” said SOLCA oncologist Israel Destruge. “All research on the subject has shown that arsenic, cadmium and mercury used in the mining process are carcinogenic, leading to cases of skin, bladder, kidney, and lung cancers,” he said.

He added: “It is an indisputable fact that rates of cancer are much higher near gold and silver mines due to the use of these metals. Given that the Kimsakocha paramo is a major water recharge area near a major population center, it should remain protected.”

SOLCA staff also claimed that Dundee has “one of the worst environmental records in the mining industry,” citing cases in Africa and other countries.