Bancada de Pachakutik is divided by the report on the Pandora Papers

Among the assembly members of the Pachakutik bench there are contradictions with respect to the report approved by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission on Pandora Papers, which pointed out an alleged breach by the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, to the prohibition of having property and money in tax havens .

That political group met yesterday to take a position against what was presented by the legislative table chaired by José Fernando Cabascango (Pachakutik). The result is to support the report, but there must be modifications, although criticism also persists regarding the way in which they included the texts at the last minute.

According to the legislator and national secretary of PK, Darwin Pereira, the bloc supports the report, but some changes will have to be made when approving a resolution, because it also considers that currently in the country there is no social unrest and political crisis that justify a impeachment of President Lasso, who was named in the Pandora papers.

Pereira commented that after the substantive analysis carried out on the report presented by the Guarantee Commission, the bloc resolved to support Cabascango as its president and the report, but clarified that the recommendations are one thing and that the resolution of the full Assembly it will be another.

That Pachakutik considers that this resolution should not go outside the constitutional framework and give way to a possible dismissal of the President of the Republic, which is the nerve center. “That point may be observed in a resolution, because right now we do not see grounds for a political trial, the Constitution determines that a serious political crisis and internal commotion must be combined, and there would only be internal commotion because the president himself ordered a state of Exception for the issue of prisons, but the serious political crisis so far we do not see it, “he said.

Meanwhile, his co-chair, Édgar Quezada, said that the text of the report was altered at the last second with respect to the recommendations, because in his opinion there is no reliable evidence to support that there is social unrest in the country. For those statements, however, Quezada will be observed, Pereira said.

Assemblyman of Pachakutik assures that the report on the investigation of the Pandora Papers was altered

But another PK militant and member of the Table, Sofía Sánchez, corroborated what Quezada said and explained that she abstained at the time of voting on the report, because the texts of the recommendations were presented after reading the report and had no basis. .

He recalled that the commission unanimously requested 20 more days for investigation because they did not have all the documentation and evidence to support the report. “Surprisingly after three days they told us that they already had 80% of the advanced report and that the extension was not going to be used.”

The extension, Sánchez added, was looking for time to produce a quality and presentable report for the public. “But 24 hours before the meeting they sent us an extensive report and after that point one of the recommendations is included, which constituted the critical point, and that is why my vote was abstention,” he said.

He affirmed that the text of the first recommendation of the report had never been agreed upon before, which was only known after reading the report and that he did not agree because, in his opinion, the grounds for a dismissal of the President of the Republic are not configured and worse still for impeachment.

Sánchez pointed out that Cabascango, her benchmate, should first open the debate on the report on the Pandora Papers issue, that she asked for the floor but did not grant it, because she wanted to propose that the report be voted point by point.

He said that after the meeting of the bench, Pachakutik will work on a resolution especially to modify point one of the recommendations that generated controversy. The idea is for this legislative bloc to act together. “We aspire that within the bench a consensus is reached on this issue, otherwise it would be talking about two positions, some that would agree to support the report as it was and the others that have criticized, at least point one, of the report that refers to the dismissal of the first president, “he said.

Another point on which Sánchez disagreed is that the commission did not transfer the evidence that entered the table to the assembly members. “What they told us is that they presented an extremely long attachment with the report to the President of the Assembly, and I will ask that they send us that evidence.”

Seven identified with correísmo

Meanwhile, the coordinator of the National Agreement Bank (BAN), Juan Fernando Flores, denounced that the Government has identified that at least six legislators from Pachakutik have a real intention of approaching correísmo, and that in due course it will be known in plenary session. of the Assembly, because in politics nothing is hidden, he noted.

He also announced that the Government will file complaints with the Prosecutor’s Office about the coup attempts and is also trying to determine responsibility for other events that have occurred in the country and that it is not ruled out that they have the same common thread, which is to generate instability in the country, generate an idea of ​​social upheaval and justify what they wanted to do, remove the President of the Republic.

For the legislator Darwin Pereira, of the Pachakutik movement, what the ruling party is looking for are “scapegoats” and throwing up smoke screens, but in no way are there any legislators on the bench who intend to get closer to Correismo.

As legislators, political control has to be exercised and the president has had investments abroad and there is nothing wrong with the first president being investigated, he said. He assured that the evidence exists, because his own lawyer has indicated that Guillermo Lasso transferred the assets to his wife, and the Law on the Ethical Agreement prohibits anyone who has assets in tax havens directly or indirectly from exercising public office.

Pereira said that those who had to leave Pachakutik have already left, and the others are on the block without problems. “Here no one wants to destabilize, I think he falls alone, because many times he gets confused and makes mistakes, but I do think that he puts the rope around his neck when he brings a document saying that he transferred the assets to his wife and that is configured in what the Ethical Pact prohibits having property even in the name of his wife ”. (I)