[Politics] Legislative blocks sharpen political positions regarding the Pandora Papers report

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The Constitutional Guarantees Commission had planned to deliver the report on the investigation carried out at 5:00 p.m. on November 7

In the National Assembly there are still no official positions of the five benches regarding the report presented by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission on Pandora Papers, which indicated a breach by President Guillermo Lasso of the Law of the Ethical Pact that prohibits holding public office to direct or indirect owners of goods or capital in tax havens.

However, there are assembly members who have their criteria on the recommendations of the document that was read last Friday and that received the support of six votes from Pachakutik and the correista sector of the Union for Hope (UNES) bench. The commission reported that the report would be delivered at 5:00 p.m. on November 7 to the president of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori.

 

From Pachakutik, the bench coordinator, Rafael Lucero, did not answer his phone, but his co-chair Ricardo Vanegas did, who first clarified that his position is not of the bloc but personal and that he will hardly change in the face of what was prepared by the Commission of Constitutional Guarantees, which - in his opinion - lost objectivity and legal technique in the investigation process and has submitted a report with undue motivation and based on assumptions, it reaches several recommendations. Recommendations cannot be based on assumptions, but on certainties, he replied.

For the legislator, the report cannot indicate that the president has committed a crime, first the evidence has to be collected to determine if he adapted his conduct in an alleged crime, since the Assembly is not a judge or prosecutor.

 

Vanegas insisted that without evidence, no one can be accused, and in this case the burden of proof is on the Guarantee Commission and not on the president, who is not obliged to present the evidence and even less to appear before a commission. nor before the plenary session of the National Assembly, as one of the report's recommendations suggests.

In addition, Lasso has to answer for his actions from the day of his position, what he has done before does not correspond to Parliament, because it was not public, he added.

Constitutionally, the first president only goes to Parliament to render annual reports, take office or when there is a call for a political trial, in this case, the grounds indicated in the same Constitution are not met. The National Assembly cannot do more than what the law allows, warned Vanegas.

 

In its opinion, the Commission forgot to point out that the State Attorney General's Office initiated an investigation process on the Pandora Papers, and at that stage no information can be delivered, and neither can the authorities such as the Superintendency of Banks and the Revenue Service. Inmates can deliver information, because they would be violating the Law; therefore, it is inappropriate to recommend that because they do not provide information they must be prosecuted.

From the Democratic Left, Alejandro Jaramillo considered that the plenary session must decide on what the legislative table determined for non-compliance with functions, and that if the Assembly initiated this investigation, it does not mean that it intends to persecute the President of the Republic.

Whether or not there was social upheaval is a subjective criterion, stressed the orange representative, because at this moment what the country requires is stability, job creation and Ecuador cannot continue to be bogged down in exhausting business issues. He clarifies that the ID does not defend anyone, but it is worth wondering if this is in the best interest of the country: instability and chaos.

 

Jaramillo recalled that an investigation into Pandora Papers is already open in the Prosecutor's Office, and it will be that instance that determines the existence or not of a crime. In the next few hours the bench will meet to define an official position.

But his co-leader Wilma Andrade was frontal in questioning the report presented by the Guarantees table and maintains that the Assembly does not have the powers to convene the president to the plenary session. The commission can recommend anything, but there is no legal basis for doing so. Even if Pachakutik gathers his votes with other parties and they decide to call the president, he is not obliged to do so, he said.

Virgilio Saquicela, first vice president, member of the National Agreement Group (BAN) and of the commission that investigated Pandora's papers, refuted the recommendation of the legislative board that the head of state be summoned to the plenary session. He reiterated that he presented a minority report in which it is recommended that all documentation related to Pandora Papers be sent to the Comptroller's Office and the State Attorney's Office, and that the case be archived.

 

He ratified that the ruling bloc supports the president and rejected a "groped" report, stating that he allegedly failed to comply with the regulations that prohibit a public official from having assets or capital in tax havens.

He questioned whether it is intended, in a report, to accommodate the criterion that there is an internal commotion and consequently to forge causes for an impeachment, when the commotion must have been given at the moment in which the supposed connection of the President of the Republic with the Pandora Papers. If the first president incurred in any situation, there is the ordinary justice and the State Comptroller's Office that is acting.

"That report is gibberish," said Saquicela, because in his opinion he begins by saying one thing and at the end of the day he affirms that the president allegedly would not have transferred his properties within the time established in the Law, when that was already tried.

 

The UNES coordinator, Paola Cabezas, did not answer her phone, but that political sector also called itself the Citizen Revolution sent a statement rejecting the government's statements that in its opinion are irresponsible and whimsical, which instead of responding to international accusations that link him to the Pandora Papers, threatens to use judicial weapons against those who investigate the alleged crimes of perjury, tax fraud, front manism and bank embezzlement of President Guillermo Lasso.

For the Citizen Revolution, the political crisis facing the country is resolved by appearing before the National Assembly and presenting its defense evidence on the alleged accounts and assets in tax havens, as well as the breach of the ethical pact. That they are not coup plotters or conspirators, but a democratic opposition that presents constitutional solutions to this political, social, ethical and moral crisis.

The PSC issued a statement where it states that the report of the Constitutional Guarantees Commission regarding the President of the Republic and the Pandora Papers is carefully analyzed, this refers in several parts to an alleged case of internal commotion. That this cause is not applicable to this case, according to two opinions of the Constitutional Court, which define the internal commotion and which are public knowledge.

That its legislative bench will not support the removal of a President of the Republic outside of the Constitution and the law. The Functions of the State have clearly established competences. That the plenary session of the National Assembly cannot assume those corresponding to other State functions and agencies such as the Comptroller's Office, the Electoral Branch, and others.

It clarifies that the plenary session of the Assembly can remove any President of the Republic, but exclusively when his behavior is framed in the causes established in article 130 of the Constitution: arrogance of functions and serious political crisis and internal commotion. And the Plenary can also politically prosecute a madatario in the cases provided for in article 129 of the Constitution.

 

Link: https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/politica/bloques-legislativos-afinan-posturas-politicas-frente-al-informe-de-los-pandora-papers-nota/