Accusations of Corruption and Defamatory Social Practice. Fifteen Years in the life of Agustin Mesa y Ayala (1670-1685), Bookkeeper of the Royal Treasury of Quito

Abstract

This text analyzes the trial held between 1678 and 1685 against Agustin Mesa y Ayala, Bookkeeper of the Royal Treasury of Quito, as a consequence of the denunciation made by the Mercederian friar José Hurtado. While interpreting corruption as a social phenomenon, the text exposes the existence of official mechanisms of control that fulfilled their function, even when wrongly used for the advancement of personal interests. The case is of interest because it reveals social behaviours, interpersonal links, the changing balance of individuals’ power and, more importantly, a value system in which the absence of virtue –as an aim and guide for social behavior– affected the agents of the administration, as well as common individuals.