The National Assembly has opened an investigation to shed light on possible assets abroad of Guillermo Lasso, in power for four months and a half.
by
Mentioned by the Journalistic Survey of the “Pandora Papers”, Ecuador President, Guillermo Lasso (Right), is looking for a defense strategy. Wednesday, October 13, on the occasion of a television interview, the former banker, who says no longer holding offshore society, was the victim of a “international conspiracy”, of a “misguided conspiracy” by His political enemies. He denounced an attempt at “putsch against democracy”. Three days earlier, 105 members of the National Assembly, out of 137, had voted the opening of an investigation to shed light on possible assets abroad of Mr. Lasso.
In charge of the investigation, the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Guarantees must submit its report in a month. Auditions must start Monday, October 18th. Eight international observers – whose name has not been specified – will follow the investigation to ensure impartiality.
In power for four and a half months, Mr. Lasso was, before the publication of the “Pandora Papers”, weakened by an unprecedented crisis in the penitentiary environment – on September 28, 119 inmates of Guayaquil Prison were killed In clashes attributed to rivalries between gangs related to the Mexican cartels of the drug – and a growing social malaise.
“Search guilty”
The collaborative survey conducted by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (Herej) revealed that he controlled 14 offshore companies, 11 based in Panama. In a video published by the Government on October 7, the Head of State stated “automatically got rid of all these companies” in 2017, when the socialist president of then, Rafael Correa, did a prohibiting law voting Candidates for the Presidency to have assets in tax havens. Admitting that he had had, “years ago, legitimate investments in other countries”, Mr. Lasso said, “My income comes from my decades of work at the Guayaquil Bank.”
In a letter of three pages addressed to the Director of the Daily El Universo, member of ICIJ, the President challenged the rigor of the information provided and denounced “the lack of journalistic ethics” of the newspaper. He informed that his businesses and himself had brought $ 588 million (€ 481 million) to the last fifteen years, including 18 million in personal capacity.
Wednesday During an interview on television, Mr. Lasso gave the amount of taxes paid by many of his political opponents. The Indian and peasant leader Leonidas Iza, he insured would have paid $ 1,000 in fifteen years. “It is incomprehensible that citizens who do not pay taxes claim to challenge a well-justified heritage, fruit of honest work,” said the very rich president.
You have 30.73% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.