Three assembly members of the Ethics Committee recommend removing Ecknner Recalde as legislator

Three votes of the Ethics Committee recommend that the plenary session of the National Assembly dismiss Ecknner Recalde as a Pichincha assembly member for having incurred the prohibition of receiving financial contributions from his office collaborators.

This report prepared by Segundo Chimbo (Pachakutik), president of the Ethics Committee did not obtain unanimous support as happened in the case of the legislator, Bella Jiménez. The UNES assembly member, Luisa González, abstained because in her opinion there is a lack of evidence and certainties in the face of the accusation raised by the legislator, Johanna Moreira (ID), that the only evidence was testimonies from former Recalde collaborators.

Draft report of the Ethics Committee recommends dismissing legislator Eckenner Recalde for receiving financial contributions from his collaborators

The legislator, Dalton Bacigalupo (ID), also abstained from voting, but he presented his reasons, as he said that he is the author of a complaint of this same case before the State Attorney General’s Office, but that he considers that in the plenary session he will give his vote to favor of the exit of Recalde.

The votes in favor of the report came from the assembly members: Freddy Rojas (CREO), Marjorie Chávez (PSC) and Segundo Chimbo (Pachakutik). The file will be passed on to the president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, to be included for debate and vote in plenary.

The legislator Johanna Moreira, spoke of Recalde never denied in the investigation process having received money from the members of his office, but that it was for another activity. He said that it is unforgivable that an assembly member is requesting resources from his collaborators for whatever the activity is.

For the removal of a legislator, at least 91 votes are needed, and according to Moreira, at the end of the day all this is about votes, but that the ID will make its message clear that it will not allow any act of corruption wherever it comes from.

Assemblywoman Luisa González (UNES), when reasoning her vote for the motion to approve the report of the Ethics Committee, argued that the Ethics Committee in this case intends to act as an instance of self-purification of political parties that may subjectively become disputes or political interests.

That the actions of the Committee must be for specific, proven and motivated actions in order to generate confidence, above all, not to violate any right of those who are part of the National Assembly.

From the analysis of the file and the report presented by legislator Chimbo, Assemblywoman González affirmed, there is reasonable doubt about the elements of conviction that prove the violation of article 127 of the Constitution and 163 numeral 4 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Function, in the one on which the complaint is based.

That in the case of Ecknner Recalde it has become difficult to identify absolute and sufficient elements of conviction related to the alleged cause.

Regarding the prohibition that the assembly member Recalde has allegedly incurred, which is to receive allowances or other income from public funds other than those corresponding to the function of assembly member, according to the UNES legislator, the evaluation and analysis of the test was reduced to the appearance of two witnesses from his team, there was no evidence other than testimonies, where elements of an alleged request for contributions have been determined. The elements of conviction on the denounced cause have not been sufficiently demonstrated, since the only evidence was the testimonies, he insisted.

The president of the Committee, Segundo Chimbo, regretted that there was no unanimity in the report on the request for the dismissal of legislator Recalde, which included the versions of the two witnesses who stated that they gave money. That this case is in the hands of the 137 assembly members. If you want to eradicate the old custom of tithing, you have to give an example, he noted. (I)