The political trials were presented by assembly members Luis Almeida, from the PSC, and Salvador Quishpe, from the Pachakutik movement.
The National Assembly, this October 26, censured the former Minister of Energy, René Ortiz, for failure to comply with control functions in the collection of electricity bills during the COVID-19 pandemic and for endorsing the decrees that led to the elimination of the fuel subsidy in the country.
With the censorship, Ortiz is disqualified from holding public office for a period of two years. The former official told legislators that the issuance of decrees on setting new fuel prices is the power of the President of the Republic and not of a minister.
The former civil servant during his presentation of discharging evidence brought up what the current president of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, did with the issuance of decrees 230 and 231 signed three days ago, in which he determined new prices for extra gasoline and diesel, therefore, is not the responsibility of a secretary of state, he reiterated.
Regarding the collection of the electricity bills, with estimated values during the pandemic, the former official said that the corrections were taken and that there are no harmed users, that sanctions were applied, although these were after the complaints, he noted.
The impeachment was raised by legislators Luis Almeida (PSC) and Salvador Quishpe (Pachakutik), after the plenary session of the National Assembly filed a first request for Ortiz’s trial, due to the expiration of the deadline for the former Energy official to be politically prosecuted at the request of former assembly members Mercedes Serrano and Dennis Marín (PSC).
They recommend impeachment and censorship of former Energy Minister René Ortiz
Almeida focused his accusations against Ortiz for an alleged charge of presumptive payroll for the electric power service while the country was confined by the health emergency, which was not controlled and no sanctions were applied to those responsible for issuing payrolls without a measurement of the consumption, he argued.
That having been authorized by a resolution of the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Energy and Non-Renewable Resources (Arconel), in April 2020, the estimated billing distribution based on historical consumption of customers, constitutes a violation of the Constitution and the Consumer Defense Law, as established in the report.
The Inspection Commission recommended that the report be sent to the different control authorities, in the specific case of contracts with companies for cutting and reconnecting electricity, and requesting the Comptroller’s Office to carry out special examinations of the contracts: CNELGYE-AJ-01 -013-2020, whose purpose is to provide the service of notifications of the cut and reconnection service of electric power supplies to massive clients of the Guayaquil CNEL EP Business Unit, signed on March 12, 2020, and the contract with the Proyelec consortium Holding, for the execution of reading-billing services for clients of CNEL Guayaquil.
In addition, it was recommended that, in the face of the excessive charge for presumptive payroll, the settlement be made to all users for the amount actually consumed and credit notes be issued for the values charged in excess.
Fuel indictment
The accusation raised by Assemblyman Salvador Quishpe (Pachakutik) focused on the issuance of executive decrees 1054, 1158 and 1183 by the former President of the Republic Lenín Moreno, and according to the interpellant, they were countersigned by the former Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Non-Renewable René Ortiz Durán.
Decree 1054 creates the band system for adjusting the prices of petroleum derivatives based on international market prices, extra and eco gasoline, as well as diesel.
Decree 1158 releases the prices and the internal and external commercialization of derivatives not included in the bands.
Decree 1183 regulates the determination of costs, at the supplier level, based on the international price of the WTI marker. Similarly, the power to regulate the costs of the other elements of the commercialization chain is recovered for the State, which had been attributed to all actors, including private ones, in Decree 1158.
A constant in the three decrees is the linking of the internal prices of derivatives to the international market prices of crude oil and of the derivatives themselves, as well as the facilitation for the private sector to enter supply activities despite not having infrastructure storage and transportation. They would do so at the expense of Petroecuador’s infrastructure and to the detriment of the operating capacity of the public company.
Among the recommendations made by the Oversight Commission is the referral of the three executive decrees to the Constitutional Court, in order for it to know and decide on their constitutionality.
The President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, is also requested to repeal executive decrees 1054, 1183 and 1158.
The censorship of former minister René Ortiz, had the support of 126 votes, and the record of the impeachment will be sent to the State Attorney General’s Office. (I)
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