Uruguay VP Quits Ahead of Party Meeting on Alleged Funds Misuse

(Bloomberg) -- Uruguay’s vice president quit on Saturday, hours before a planned meeting of party leaders to discuss possible misuse of his state-run oil company’s credit card.

Raul Sendic told the ruling Broad Front Party and President Tabare Vazquez that he was stepping down, Sendic said on his verified Twitter account. He said his resignation was final. El Pais, the largest newspaper in the South American country, first reported the news.

Party leaders on Saturday were set to talk about an internal report concerning Sendic’s possible misuse of a corporate credit card while he was chairman of Ancap, Uruguay’s state oil company. The party had investigated his management of Ancap while he was chairman, as well.

Sendic’s departure comes as inflation falls within the central bank’s target and the economy is set to expand at the second-fastest pace in the region, while neighbors Brazil and Argentina are trying to exit extended periods of scandal and recession.

The son and namesake of a founding member of a far-left revolutionary group that sought to overthrow Uruguay’s democratic and military governments in the 1960s and 1970s, Sendic, 55, was seen as a rising star in the Broad Front, Uruguay’s center-left coalition.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ken Parks in Montevideo at kparks8@bloomberg.net, Andres R. Martinez in Buenos Aires at amartinez28@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Kenneth Pringle