Prosecutors raid Cuenca’s city hall, municipal companies and ex-officials’ homes in embezzlement probe

Featured image: domes of the New Cathedral in Cuenca’s historic centre, near the municipal palace (illustrative). Photo: Fernando Tapia / Unsplash, Unsplash License.

Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General del Estado) and the National Police carried out raids in Cuenca early on Tuesday, October 27, searching the city’s municipal palace, several municipal companies and the homes and offices of former municipal officials as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged embezzlement (peculado). No arrests had been reported by Tuesday afternoon.

What was searched

Agents entered the Palacio Municipal on Sucre street at around 8 am, according to the Cuenca newspaper El Mercurio, while other teams searched the offices of the water and sanitation company ETAPA and the waste company EMAC, homes of former municipal employees and a fast-food restaurant on Paseo de los Cañaris. El Mercurio said the restaurant reportedly belongs to a former adviser of suspended mayor Cristian Zamora; that link has not been officially confirmed.

El Universo reported nine raids on homes and five on public entities in Azuay province, naming the Mayor’s Office, the municipal telecommunications company, ETAPA, EMAC, the mobility company EMOV and the Cuenca Airport Corporation. The paper’s own list includes six entities, so the exact count remains unclear.

In a post on X, the Fiscalía said the operation aimed to seize assets and gather evidence on an alleged “structure” that may have awarded municipal contracts irregularly during a previous administration. Prosecutors have not named any suspects or given an amount.

The city’s response

Acting mayor Marisol Peñaloza ordered all municipal departments to hand over whatever information the authorities request and said city services continue normally. In a statement, the mayor’s office said it was waiting for official information, was willing to cooperate and called the situation “regrettable and disappointing for Cuenca,” El Mercurio and Vistazo reported.

Background: the Zamora cases

Cristian Zamora was elected mayor of Cuenca, Ecuador’s third-largest city, and is currently suspended from office. El Universo reports that he is in Mexico. He is under investigation for alleged illicit enrichment and his administration has been questioned by the Comptroller General’s Office over contracts for three hospitals and for cultural events and festivities.

In early October, the government’s Secretariat of Public Integrity filed three embezzlement complaints over hospital contracts in El Valle, Baños and Ricaurte worth more than $2.4 million in total, Vistazo reported. The complaints allege that consortia that won municipal contracts then hired suppliers linked to Zamora and his relatives. Zamora has rejected any link to those companies and says all his assets are justified. He is presumed innocent, and Tuesday’s raids do not by themselves mean charges against him or any former official.

Confirmed vs. pending

• Confirmed: raids by the Fiscalía and the police on the municipal palace, municipal companies and ex-officials’ properties; a preliminary embezzlement investigation; no arrests reported.
• Pending: the names of those investigated, the amounts involved and whether prosecutors will request charges. Zamora and his defence had not commented on the raids at the time of writing.

Sources

• El Universo — Fiscalía allana Municipio de Cuenca y otras cuatro entidades (Oct 27, 2026)
• Vistazo — Fiscalía allana viviendas y oficinas de exfuncionarios del Municipio de Cuenca (Oct 27, 2026)
• El Mercurio — Policía allana domicilios y oficinas de exfuncionarios del Municipio de Cuenca (Oct 27, 2026)
• Teleamazonas — Fiscalía allana inmuebles de exfuncionarios del Municipio de Cuenca (Oct 27, 2026)

Celina Santa Cruz · Ecuador · Virtual editorial byline
English adaptation: Lin Wei · Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 27, 2026 · AI-assisted writing