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Álvaro Noboa

Álvaro Fernando Noboa Pontón (born November 21, 1950, in Guayaquil) is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician.Noboa has been actively involved in politics, unsuccessfully running for the office of President of Ecuador in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2009. In 2007, however, he was elected national assemblyman. Noboa announced on May 2, 2012, that he would be running for a fifth time to become the President of Ecuador in the upcoming 2013 Ecuadorian Presidential Elections In 1997, already owning 24% of Bonita Bananas, Noboa purchased another 25% of the shares, the holding company for the family business. Presently, he runs the Noboa Group of Companies and Noboa Corporation, with more than 110 companies in Ecuador and around the world, including branch offices in United States, Antwerp, Rome, Japan, Argentina, and New Zealand.Some of Noboa's Ecuadorian companies have faced lawsuits and Servicio de Rentas Internas claims. The banana exporting company also has been audited by international organisations due to child labor issues and strike conflicts.Noboa's major company in Ecuador, Exportadora Bananera Noboa, faced as of February 2009, an assessment of three hundred million dollars (Ecuador was dollarized in 2000) imposed by the governmental revenue service of Ecuador, the SRI. A representative of TP Consulting, an independent audit firm, stated that what is in question is the price for a crate of bananas: that which the SRI has fixed is a number above that determined by other parts of the government (the Ecuadorian banana business is regulated by the government which sets prices paid to producers for bananas, the cost of exportation and the referential FOB price.). The representatives of Bananera Noboa have stated that exportation prices were within the range of prices of exportation of other exporters, according to information from the Central Bank of Ecuador. The audit, undertaken by TP Consulting (who were contracted to carry out a study of the transfer prices of Bananera Noboa), revealed an amount to be paid of US $139,949.00. As of 2011, Bananera Noboa is still facing charges from the SRI, but the legal representatives of the Company state that the company ‘Is not Bankrupt’.A judge in New York has recommended a $6.96m default judgment against Alvaro Noboa in NYKCool’s long hunt for payment from the empire of the Ecuadorian banana baron.If Magistrate Judge Andre Peck’s recommendation is approved by the higher ranking jurist overseeing the lawsuit, it will follow a string of such judgments against companies alleged to be under Noboa’s control. All but one of the judgments has gone unpaid.NYKCool, the Stockholm-based subsidiary of Japan’s NYK Line, has been seeking payment of a 2011 arbitration award for $8.79m, plus costs, over a collapsed contract of affreightment (COA) with companies associated with Noboa, who controls the Bonita Banana brand and who was placed fifth in last year’s Ecuadorian presidential elections.The reefer operator was finally able to collect some of the funds after District Judge Lewis Kaplan, of the federal court in Manhattan, which serves as the legal fight’s epicentre, approved a default judgment against Noboa-linked fruit exporter Truisfruit in March. Truisfruit has appealed that decision.Peck’s recommendation for a direct judgment against Noboa is likely to come as no surprise, given the judge’s refusal last month to take up Noboa’s request to throw out NYKCool’s claims against him because his challenge came late in the game.“The failure of Noboa to state under oath whether he received email or other notice of the lawsuit will also be considered by the court in ruling on the plaintiff’s default motion,” Peck said at the time.“Since Noboa has not answered the complaint even at this late date, default is likely. It is really time for the defendants’ shell game to stop.”Noboa’s lawyers at law firm Paul Hastings had argued that the multimillionaire businessman was not subject to the jurisdiction of a court in New York but Peck said in his recommendation that NYKCool’s allegations that other entities in the legal fight are mere alter egos of Noboa were enough to establish the court’s ability to hear the case against him.http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/339528/judge-recommends-slapping-696m-judgment-on-noboaOver the course of his career in public service, which began in 1998 with his first candidacy for President of the Republic, Noboa has been the object of multiple denunciations and labor- and tax-related allegations, as well as political and personal ideological attacks, from what Noboa describes as powerful and influential political and commercial adversaries within the country.His foundation "Crusade for a New Humanity" (Spanish: Cruzada Nueva Humanidad) draws on Noboa's personal fortune to fund social projects. While running for the presidency, some have criticized the foundation social work for mostly political reasons. Noboa, however, says he has worked in this foundation continuously for more than 30 years, long before his Presidential Run.On January 25, 2006 he founded the Luis A. Noboa Naranjo Museum (Spanish: Museo Luis A. Noboa Naranjo) to honor his father's memory and to exhibit for the first time, the important collection of paintings that Luis Noboa Naranjo collected over his lifetime. As of 2012, Noboa has sponsored three Biennale events over the years in order to exhibit the works of art of artists from all over the world and has recognized them with important Awards.Along with Rafael Correa, Álvaro Noboa is the only other political figure of Ecuador to have a strong presence in social media, as both of them have a Twitter Verified Account and a lot of Supporters in their Facebook Pages.