The first report was presented by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission, which detected a breach of the ethical pact by the president.
The president of the Audit Commission, Fernando Villavicencio (Concertación), this November 12 presented a report on the investigation into the Pandora Papers, which indicates that the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, is not a direct or indirect beneficiary, social beneficiary, director or dignitary of any company located in tax havens.
That the Pandora papers not only name Lasso, but also several businessmen from this country and former high-level public officials, including Williams Phillips Cooper, Nilsen Arias Sandoval and Enrique Cadena Marín, related to the oil business.
Pandora Papers is a file leak that reveals the links between politicians and businessmen with administrators of offshore registered in tax havens.
The National Assembly commissioned the Constitutional Guarantees Commission to carry out an investigation. A majority report indicated that the president did not observe the ethical pact approved by popular consultation in 2017; consequently, a breach of the prohibition of having assets and money in tax havens was determined. But a minority of that table turned in another one that the investigation file recommends, because no evidence was found against Lasso.
Report on Pandora Papers faces request for urgent action for alleged crime of ideological falsehood
The report that Villavicencio delivered to the presidency of the National Assembly indicates that the companies and trusts that have been linked to the President of the Republic have been dissolved, establishing that, on the date of the registration of his presidential candidacy, that is, on the 23rd September 2020 to the present, does not appear as a direct or indirect shareholder, social beneficiary or director of any company located in a tax haven.
Regarding the companies Banisi SA and Banisi Holding S. A, it was established that, after the analysis carried out and in accordance with the duly certified and apostilled documents, the current president does not appear as a shareholder, direct or indirect, or the final beneficiary of the company , nor as director or dignitary of them, from September 11, 2020 to the present date, that is, before the registration of the Lasso-Borrero presidential binomial for the 2021-2025 elections.
That the documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists are the product of a documentary leak-leak, which lacks probative validity within a judicial or administrative process, and that the documentary annexes are simple copies that, to be incorporated into the a cause, must be contrasted with original or existing documents, which must be requested from the commercial and corporate entities where they rest, as well as from the owners of the information generated.
Villavicencio concludes that the Ministry of Labor, on November 11, 2021, determined that Guillermo Lasso did not register a relationship of labor dependency in the public sector from 2010 to May 23, 2021, which shows that he did not hold public office or popular election that has prevented you from doing business in tax havens.
The assemblyman claimed the competence of the Audit Commission to initiate and substantiate this investigation.
He argued that the Constitutional Guarantees Commission violated the constitutional principle not twice in the same when trying to establish presumed responsibilities for events that were known and resolved by the highest electoral body, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, which since 2017 has been exercising permanent controls.
Faced with the facts, the 58-page report recommends, among other things, the filing of the report presented by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission for lack of impartiality within the evaluation and analysis of the elements requested and collected by the aforementioned commission.
Regarding the powers, the document indicates that it is the Prosecutor’s Office, as the head of the criminal action, which must be in charge of continuing with this process.
And it proposes that the president recommend and suggest to his children the return of capital to Ecuador in order to promote, contribute and increase commercial, productive and labor activity in the country.
Regarding the results obtained from the investigation, it is proposed that the third report be sent to the State Attorney General’s Office, in order for it to carry out, within the framework of its powers, the pertinent investigations into the actions of Messrs. William Phillips Cooper, Nilsen Arias Sandoval and Enrique Cadena Marín for crimes against the public Administration that have been evidenced. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
