The Ecuadorian Parliament approved an investigation into the Pandora Papers that dot Lasso | Proposed by the correísmo, the resolution received 104 votes for and 24 against

The plenary session of the National Assembly of Ecuador on Thursday approved a request for an investigation into President Guillermo Lasso’s offshore companies in tax havens, revealed this weekend in the so-called Pandora Papers. The resolution received 104 votes for and 24 against, and was presented by the correista Unión por la Esperanza (UNES) with the aim of analyzing the president’s suspicious economic movements.

Wednesday, trying to stop a rain of criticism, Lasso announced his resignation from banking secrecy and even demanded that his fortune statement be reviewed. From the opposition, the former presidential candidate Yaku perez filed a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office investigating Lasso’s offshore accounts, while the former candidate Andres Arauz directly requested the resignation or removal of the president.

Investigation and resignation request

Assembler Ronny aleaga, who promoted the initiative, felt that “The President’s answers are not enough to reveal his connection to the Pandora Papers” and argued that the Assembly must intervene to clarify the facts. “The Ecuadorian people are attentive and vigilant about what we are doing and it is our duty to give them clear and transparent answers. Faced with these revelations we cannot be silent“said Alaga.

The request was approved after the documents were released on Sunday, in which It is clear that Lasso owned 14 offshore companies until 2017. Ecuadorian President He has repeatedly claimed that in that year, when a legal ban was passed, he disposed of those properties.

But the opposition considers that a review from several years ago must be done to verify if Lasso evaded taxes in Ecuador while owning these properties outside the country. For this reason, they insist that a further investigation be conducted by the Internal Revenue Service and other organizations, including the state attorney general’s office, before which the former indigenous candidate Yaku perez filed a criminal complaint against the president on Tuesday.

Pérez argued that Lasso’s financial movements must be investigated since 2013, when he was a presidential candidate for the first time, and not since 2017, year in which the law was reformed by referendum. “We Ecuadorians are ashamed to have the president among the top figures of world leaders of tax evaders”underlined the representative of the Pachakutik movement.

The old candidate of the correísmo, Andres Arauz, went even further than Pérez and asked in an interview with Telesur that Lasso resigns or is removed from office. “We are scandalized by what has happened, Ecuador is tainted internationally,” said the young economist.

Arauz, who lost the ballot to Lasso on April 11, believes the president has four reasons why he should be prosecuted: “Attacking the democracy of the nation; tax evasion, something unacceptable in his capacity as president; exercise the figurehead with their own loved ones. , and committing perjury after swearing not to own property and lying about their businesses and assets in tax havens. “

Lasso’s response

In an attempt to mitigate the media effects of the Pandora Papers scandal, Lasso on Wednesday asked in a letter to the state comptroller to verify the asset declaration which he presented before taking office in May and, for that, “renounce banking secrecy”. The Ecuadorian Constitution establishes that civil servants must make a declaration of assets at the beginning and at the end of their administration, and authorize the lifting of secrecy or secrecy on their bank accounts.

Lasso too made himself available to the National Assembly to answer “questions they deem relevant” on the investigation of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The president sent a letter to the head of the Supervisory Commission of the Organ, Fernando Villavicencio, to express his willingness to clarify and answer questions on this investigation and for this he invited the members of this organ to the Carondelet Palace, presidential seat.

Based on the ICIJ’s investigations, which involved senior leaders, athletes, artists and businessmen from dozens of countries, it was learned that Lasso had gotten rid of a network of offshore companies that he he had in tax havens before being a presidential candidate. Specific, the current president of Ecuador was linked to 14 offshore companies created in Panama, the United States and Canada.