Legislative report of Pandora Papers is measured with the opinion of the Comptroller’s Office that files the process against Guillermo Lasso

Added to the debate on the report of the Constitutional Guarantees Commission on the investigation of the so-called Pandora Papers was the opinion of the State Comptroller’s Office, which shelves the examination against Guillermo Lasso, President of the Republic, for not finding elements that demonstrate that he was the direct or indirect owner of assets or capital in tax havens.

The National Assembly, this December 7, at 4:00 p.m., reinstated session 747 with the presentation of legislator José Cabascango (PK), president of the legislative table, who explained part of the approved report in which it is determined that the president of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, violated the ethical pact established in the popular consultation of 2017; although he did not refer to the recommendations.

National Assembly defines itself in front of the report on Pandora’s papers

During the first part of the debate, it was stated that the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, should be called upon to speak his truth whether or not he possesses assets in tax havens; that the comptroller of the surrogate State, Carlos Riofrío, be summoned to determine on what was based his decision to archive the case on the examination of tax havens.

From the correísmo, the approval of a motion was proposed to apply the provisions of article 130, numeral 2 of the Constitution and proceed with the removal of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, and that with the pertinent procedure the grave political crisis.

The second intervention of the plenary session was for Sofía Sánchez, Pachakutik’s delegate to the Guarantees Commission, who affirmed that errors were made in the report on Pandora Papers that must be corrected, which is why she asked the president of the commission to make corrections. That the few who attended the appearances did not help to support the investigation.

That neither the appearance of a journalist from Page 12 from Argentina, contributed to the investigation because it only had data until March 2017, when the popular consultation on the ethical pact took place that year.

That the more than 10,000 documents of the investigative journalists never reached the commission and that no further evidence was obtained, that on October 25 a request for a 20-day extension was approved, but surprisingly two days later it was said that the report it was advanced and no extension is needed. He also stated that the annexes to the report were presented two days after the document was approved.

Legislators Paola Cabezas (UNES) and Darwin Pereira (Pachakutik) questioned the resolution of the State Comptroller’s Office.

Pereira said that the Pachakutik bloc hopes to support the recommendations made by the Guarantees Commission, but that there will be partial modifications in the first recommendation for the removal of the president due to a serious political crisis and internal commotion.

The worst thing that can happen to the National Assembly, he said, is that the report is archived even more so when the Comptroller’s Office recommends archiving an examination to President Guillermo Lasso, which constitutes a mockery and offense to the intelligence of 600 journalists from investigation, he noted.

That he will request information from the surrogate controller, Carlos Riofrío, about the evidence and arguments that led the control body to archive the case.

Cabezas commented that Comptroller Riofrío’s decision worries, because the findings that were found in the legislative investigation do not allow the case to be archived, as there is a lot of information that is beginning to spread around the world.

In the debate, he validated the revelation made by 600 investigative journalists worldwide that link the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, with “tax dens”, by which it is known that Lasso and his family environment are linked to tax havens . That these are facts revealed by an international consortium of journalists, that it is not a correista invention or a plot put together by the commission.

Cabezas proposed to the court that “given the serious facts that the Constitutional Guarantees Commission has been able to find in its investigation, the presence of the President of the Republic is required, so that once and for all he can provide explanations to the people before the plenary session of the Assembly, and that the provisions of article 130 numeral 2 of the Constitution be applied and that the pertinent procedure be carried out so that the serious political crisis is unlocked “.

From the correísmo it was announced that the subrogated comptroller will be called to the Assembly to report on the arguments that led to the file of the examination on the connection of Guillermo Lasso with tax havens.

Legislator Francisco Jiménez, from the official CREO bloc, indicated that the existence of ten thousand pages of a report does not accredit the commission of a crime or twelve million sheets of investigation of the international press nor do they constitute an imputation of a commission of infractions by part of a president, that must be proven, he noted.

That the manipulated reports do not constitute a crime either, the videos, even if they are played gloomy music, do not prove per se The commission of a crime, all that must be proven, otherwise it turns them into irresponsible political actors who all they seek is the political destabilization of the country for the sin of having won the elections.

Having had legitimate international businesses, Jiménez said, is not the same as having them, after questioning that in this investigation videos and information have been mixed with the aim of destabilizing the country, regardless of who is affected and thereby destabilizing a government. and to a president who has proven that he has nothing to hide.

From the PSC, Esteban Torres confirmed that his bench does not support the report of the Guarantee Commission and questioned the resolution of the comptroller to archive the case, and said that they will oversee that decision because they are not convinced that in less than two months 12 million were read of documents.

Gisella Molina, from the Pachakutik bench, said that she is tired of hearing incoherence and hypocrisy in the plenary session. He referred to what was pointed out by the legislator Paola Cabezas, that the legislator Sofía Sánchez (PK) did not observe or read what was published by journalists about this case, that each time the UNES legislator refers to the newspapers and the news, but that it does not have a clear forcefulness that legitimizes through a strict point that governs the Law.

That there is a group of legislators who want them to vote as they want, because they want to cause revolt and chaos; you have to sit down and analyze what you are doing.

“Do not come to me here to say that a Pandora Papers is supposedly for the people, but simply to negotiate and pressure very dark things,” said legislator Molina, from Cotopaxi.

Virgilio Saquicela (BAN), member of the Constitutional Guarantees table, said that a document on the Pandora Papers was never read, and how it can be recommended that cross-death be applied from the National Assembly, and that this is added that the State Comptroller’s Office filed the special open examination against the current president, Guillermo Lasso, in which it is stated that there was no evidence that he has assets and capital in tax havens.

He added that it is not possible that with an investigation based on a Page 12, made in the first months of 2017, they want to induce to determine that article 130 number 2 of the Constitution is being complied with, which said that it is a lack of respect for the Legislative function.

Pierina Correa (UNES) questioned the resolution of the State Comptroller’s Office, that the investigation requested by the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, should take at least six months; and that although the results of the investigations carried out by the international consortium of journalists do not constitute evidence in themselves, but they are sufficient material for the Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office to act. (I)