President Daniel Noboa sent to the National Assembly the fourth legislative initiative urgent in economic matters. This is an organic account of economic urgency for return of property of illegal origin and transparency in public procurement.

According to the document, the law aims to extinguish the economic benefits associated with crime, to promote the strengthening of the economy, the promotion of the security of citizens and the pursuit of social justice; as well as improve the transparency and competitiveness of public procurement.

All natural and legal persons, public and private, domestic and foreign, who reside and/or perform economic activities in Ecuador are subject.

The purpose of the law is facilitate the extinguishment of ownership of property of illegal origin in favor of the state, and in return to avoid obtaining illegal funds through public procurement, the text says.

Project to reform six legal bodies: Organic law of Termination of the domain; Comprehensive Criminal Code (COIP); The organic law of the national system Public procurement; Organic law Controller general of the state; Organic law Legal profession general of the state; Organic Administrative Code; and the Law on Production, Import, Export, Marketing and Possession of weaponss, ammunition, explosives and accessories.

In that sense, it proposes to establish that the termination of ownership consists of a declaration of ownership in favor of the state through a judgment of a judicial body, when they could not justify themselves of the lawful origin of the property referred to in this Act, without compensation or any compensation to its owner or anyone holding or acting as such, and shall apply to goods and securities acquired or obtained by acts or omissions contrary to law.

Since it is an urgent economic project, the National Assembly has a deadline of 30 days for analysis and processing.

This new executive branch initiative comes four days after an emergency bill proposing a 3-point increase in VAT (from 12% to 15%), to finance security operations in the context of the declaration of an internal armed conflict.

This project was qualified by the Legislative Administrative Council (CAL) last weekend and is now in the hands of the Economic Development Commission, chaired by ruling party member Valentina Centeno. The Legislative Committee began its deliberations on Monday, January 15, in the afternoon.