In 2020, a court ordered the preventive seizure of the assets of the Italian company ASTALDI in El Salvador. Five people are being tried for four crimes.
June 22, 2023- 12:42
Yesterday, the Public Prosecutor of the Republic swore, a specialist translates documents into Italian relating to the Astaldi company, which was responsible for the construction of the El Chaparral hydroelectric dam.
ASTALDI breached the contract and to date the hydroelectric power plant remains idle and without a start-up date.
According to a fact list drafted by FGR, ASTALDI was contracted on September 26, 2008 to build El Chaparral at a cost of approximately $220 million.
“ASTALDI construction company breached the contract by committing significant delays in the work from its inception, up to the unilateral suspension of the work,” FGR points out in the 2020 statement.
The company intends to raise operating costs due to a series of “unexpected events,” according to FGR.
In 2020, FGR charged five people with embezzlement, active bribery, money laundering, illegal assets and groups: former President Mauricio Funes Cartagena, former romantic partner Ada Mitchell Guzmán Seguenza, former President of CEL Jose Leopoldo Samour Gómez, José Miguel Antonio Menendez Avelar, Mario Piragostini Maiocchi Jose Efren Quinteros.
According to the Public Ministry, there was an illegal agreement between the Salvadoran government and ASTALDI for more than $45 million so that the company would not advance against the Salvadoran state.
In September 2020, the Ninth Investigative Court of San Salvador ordered the preventive seizure of Astalde’s $227.6 million assets.
