The assembly members were summoned for Tuesday, December 7, to open the debate and then resolve on Pandora’s papers.
The National Assembly began processing the report regarding the investigation of the case called Pandora Papers, in which the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, is named. On December 2, the 291-page document was read and the debate and voting postponed to Tuesday.
The Pandora Papers are a leak of files that were published worldwide of companies and political figures related to goods and capital established in offshore and administered in countries considered tax havens.
The investigation at the legislative level arose after the approval of a resolution on October 7, 2021 in plenary session, in which the Constitutional Guarantees Commission was required to carry out the corresponding investigation of the case called Pandora Papers, as it is a fact of great citizen interest that has generated serious social upheaval; and, in compliance with its subject matter and functions determined in the Organic Law of the Legislative Function, request the appearances and formulate the requests for information that it deems necessary, under criteria of specialty and legislative prevalence, in order to clarify the relationship of the president of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, within the journalistic investigation disclosed, related to the use of shell companies in tax havens and their purposes.
Political investigation on Pandora Papers, up for debate today in the Legislative
During the information gathering process, requests for data were made and the attendance of public authorities, experts and people involved with the matter of the investigation was also required; that is, the presence of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, and his family, who did not attend the invitation, which was questioned by the legislators of the correista sector, represented in the Union for Hope (UNES) bench. .
After the analysis, with six votes, the Constitutional Guarantees Commission determined that the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, did not observe the ethical pact approved in popular consultation in 2017, which prohibits popularly elected authorities from having property or shares in companies in tax havens.
Therefore, the table considered that the provisions of paragraph 2 of article 130 of the Constitution were breached, due to serious social upheaval and impact on the popular mandate on tax havens that facilitate structures that affect the economic and tax interest of the State.
Consequently, it recommended that the first president be removed from office, which generated political reactions and the government sector, represented in the National Agreement Bank (BAN), came out in his defense; while the blocks of the Democratic Left, Pachakutik and the Christian Social Party warned that the country is not experiencing an internal commotion or political crisis that motivates an impeachment. With the thesis of dismissing the president, the correista sector is maintained.
The Commission recommended that a resolution of the plenary session of the Assembly be approved in which, within a maximum period of eight days, the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, appear before the plenary session of the National Assembly to comply with the delivery of the requested information and answer the questions of the plenary session.
That a resolution be approved by which the secrecy of all the information that has been classified as reserved by the State institutions related to the transactions, assets and ongoing investigations related to Guillermo Lasso Mendoza and others is lifted. Likewise, that the plenary session of the Assembly informs all State institutions that the President of the Republic has publicly and in writing renounced the secrecy of his accounts.
In addition, it is requested that the Executive and the Constitutional Court be exhorted to accelerate the ratification process of the tax information exchange agreement with the United States.
That after the first president appears at the plenary session of the Assembly, and once the required information has been received, the Guarantee Commission will analyze said information and the results of the appearance, and will present a report to the plenary session of the National Assembly in merit of this report and file
That the authorities who did not appear or did not provide the information required by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission within the current investigation process be proceeded with political prosecution.
It is recommended that the report be sent to the State Attorney General’s Office, the State Comptroller’s Office, Internal Revenue Services and the Superintendency of Banks.
Political positions
The debate on this case will only begin on Tuesday, December 7, starting at 3:30 p.m., but legislators such as Alejandro Jaramillo (ID) consider that there is no reason to remove the first president, however, he is in favor that he must attend the plenary session. to present his version of the case.
He also called on the president to step aside from the threats and complaints against the legislators, that Ecuador needs peace and tranquility, and that this is not the time for crossed death, but rather to work to generate employment and health.
Eitel Zambrano (BAN) stated that the report does not have legitimacy, because it is intended to link the issue of social upheaval to generate the removal of the President of the Republic, and the requirements are not met. That this political sector will maintain a firm position to defend the legitimacy of the first president.
Correista Juan Lloret indicated that the report on Pandora Papers is a responsible work of the Commission in which the management of goods, resources and capital in tax havens is revealed. That the companies and resources of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, were in the hands of third parties, which violates the law of the ethical pact.
He said that his bench will insist on the presence of the head of state in the plenary session of the legislature to tell his truth about Pandora’s papers. And that the report be sent to the control entities and the justice system so that independent investigations can be carried out.
From the PSC, Jorge Abedrabo affirmed that they do not support the removal of the President of the Republic based on a political and not a technical report. That if there are issues in the report that should be investigated, they should go to the Attorney General’s Office and the State Comptroller’s Office.
Virgilio Saquicela (BAN), first vice president of the Assembly, said that the plenary session has already been called for next Tuesday, when the debate and voting will open. This case must be closed before December 15, because the next day the assembly members will take up the legislative vacancy, he said.
Saquicela, who presented a minority report on this issue, maintained that of the twelve million documents discussed in the Pandora Papers case, not one was read by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission, which carried out the investigation and was not analyzed either. nothing about the alleged involvement of the chief executive in this case. That there are no indications or presumption and less evidence to conclude that President Guillermo Lasso has been linked to tax havens on the date of the registration of the presidential candidacy.
Legislator Édgar Quezada, from the Pachakutik bloc, commented that there are still no agreements on the destination of the majority report, which may well be approved with certain modifications and the documentation submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Comptroller’s Office. (I)
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