The president of the National Assembly has not yet determined the date on which she will convene the plenary session to hear the reports
The president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, has in her hands three reports on the case of the so-called Pandora papers, in all three the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, is named and they try to determine whether or not he is a direct beneficiary or indirect from companies offshore with residence in tax havens.
To deal with this issue in plenary session there is still no date or time, although the legislative procedure determines that the existence of the majority report will have to be exposed to the court first and the document is read; Then, a debate is opened that can conclude with a motion that implies approving the text by a majority or knowing the report and making some recommendations via resolution, which must be approved with 70 votes.
Regularly, the minority report is not known, except if the vote on the majority report does not reach the votes, and what was presented by legislator Fernando Villavicencio, as a third report, would become an input.
A third report on Pandora Papers indicates that Guillermo Lasso is disconnected from ‘offshore’ in tax havens
On October 7, the plenary session of the Assembly with 107 votes required the Commission on Constitutional Guarantees, Human Rights, Collective Rights and Interculturality, to investigate the case called Pandora Papers, as it is a fact of great citizen interest that has generated serious social upheaval.
A month later, the legislative table chaired by José Cabascango, a legislator from Pachakutik, approved with six votes a report with six recommendations; The first of them caused controversy among the political forces because it ensures that the failure of the first president of the ethical pact determined in popular consultation in 2017 is verified, which would constitute a constitutional breach and there would be reasons to dismiss the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, due to a serious political crisis and internal upheaval.
In contrast, two pro-government legislators who are members of the Constitutional Guarantees table presented a minority report recommending the filing of the investigation process and suggesting that all the information collected on the case be forwarded to the State Attorney General’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office so that they may establish participation and responsibility.
On November 12, the president of the Oversight Commission, Fernando Villavicencio, delivered a report to the president of the legislature in which he concluded 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.
Processing of reports
The dilemma among assembly members is how to agree on a resolution when there are up to three different streams on the reports worked on. One is to accept the majority report and carry out the removal of Guillermo Lasso, but before calling him to appear in plenary session; the second proposes changing the first recommendation of the majority report and forwarding the document to the control bodies.
The third option that arises is to archive the case and all the documentation must be sent to the Comptroller’s Office and the State Attorney General’s Office. The resolution does not yet exist and is yet to be structured.
For the Social Christians, according to the coordinator of the bench, Esteban Torres, there are legally two reports, the majority and the minority, presented by the Commission for Constitutional Guarantees, and what the legislator Villavicencio presented falls on his own investigation, but he would not have a report with force legal. Although some things that are not in the other reports can be useful.
What should happen is that the majority report is processed in the plenary session of the Assembly, notwithstanding that the resolution incorporates important issues or observations from the minority report and the elements that may be derived from the individual investigation of Assemblyman Villavicencio, Torres Cobo emphasizes.
The official Eitel Zambrano, from the National Agreement Bank (BAN), maintains that the report on Pandora’s papers must be archived, that the minority report presented by Gruber Zambrano and Virgilio Saquicela (BAN) be taken into account, and that all the information is forwarded to the Comptroller and Prosecutor’s Office.
His co-chair Ana Belén Cordero adds that the report by legislator Villavicencio made in a personal capacity is one more input, since he does not believe that it is a report that can be submitted to the plenary, firstly because it is not an investigation by the Audit Commission, for Therefore, it is not possible that this report be read in the plenary session of the Assembly and less voted; but its content will serve the processes carried out by the control bodies.
The legislator of the Democratic Left Marlon Cadena bets on a serious debate on this issue, away from political biases, and considers that what is needed is to analyze the convenience and relevance of each of the reports, because it has its uniqueness and value. One of the options for the President of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, is to submit for consideration the third report presented by legislator Fernando Villavicencio.
He questions that the genesis of this investigation was run over and that each report presented tends to induce and direct, and that they move away from objectivity, which does not allow the plenary session to have sufficient clarity on the facts.
From Pachakutik, assemblyman Ricardo Vanegas maintains that assemblymen have the power to supervise, but when a commission assumes the competence to investigate the rest of the legislators, they can no longer carry out any control process, according to the law itself. However, Vanegas comments that the contribution made by Villavicencio is important because it complements the investigation carried out by the Guarantees table.
If there is no reliable evidence that demonstrates the responsibility of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, his conduct cannot be adapted in a dismissal process, therefore, the pertinent thing is that everything acted by the Commission and everything that he has contributed by Assemblyman Villavicencio is referred to the Comptroller and the Attorney General of the State. (I)
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