Ecuador’s National Assembly rejects motion to impeach Guillermo Lasso over Pandora Papers

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The plenary of the National Assembly of Ecuador decided to deny on Tuesday (7) a motion calling for the dismissal of President Guillermo Lasso for his links to the Pandora Papers scandal. It limited itself to urge him to appear in the Chamber to answer the case.

The motion, which accused the center-right Lasso of possible infractions for having funds in tax havens, prohibited in regulation since 2017 for a presidential candidate, only obtained the support of 51 legislators, while 77 others voted against and seven abstained. At least 70 votes in favor were required for approval.

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Presented by Paola Cabezas, member of the Assembly of the Union for Hope (UNES), a coalition of former President Rafael Correa, the motion demanded the application of Article 130.2 of the Constitution and the removal of the President of the Republic for “creating a serious political crisis and internal commotion” as a result of the publication of the Pandora Papers.

For more than five hours, the National Assembly, in a plenary session, debated the report prepared by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission on the Pandora Papers case. In this presentation, Lasso was held accountable for his appearance in those documents and alleged assets in tax havens when he was a candidate in the last presidential elections between February and May.

But the Plenary of the Assembly did not support Cabezas’s motion with enough votes.

Neither did the motion presented later by Assemblyman Fernando Cabascango, President of the Commission, which demanded to summon President Lasso to the Plenary “in a term no longer than 30 days, for him to explain his possible direct or indirect links to the ownership of goods and assets in tax havens”. It called on the State control agencies to review the bank accounts, tax returns, and assets of the President and his spouse, María de Lourdes Alcívar, and to initiate the appropriate legal actions within the framework of their competencies. In this case, the Assembly voted 61 in favor, 47 against, and 27 abstentions, also insufficient.

The only motion approved was the third one by Assemblyman Alejandro Jaramillo of the Democratic Left party, which was a softened version of the previous one and only “exhorted” the President to appear before the Assembly.

By 82 votes in favor, 33 against, and 19 abstentions, the Plenary of the National Assembly thus left the investigation open by sending the parliamentary report to the Comptroller’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office. A criminal investigation requested by former presidential candidate Yaku Perez remains available in the latter institution.

The Ecuadorian President has denied at all times that he had assets in tax havens and has assured that he got rid of them in compliance with the law passed in 2017.

Lasso was backed up in the morning by the announcement of the State Comptroller General’s Office about “closing” the review that had been requested by the President himself.

Deputy Comptroller-General Carlos Riofrío González mentioned in his ruling that no “objective elements have been found that demonstrate that, at the dates of registration of the candidacy for Constitutional President of the Republic of Ecuador, and of possession of said position, Guillermo Lasso was a direct or indirect owner of assets or capital in jurisdictions or regimes considered as tax havens.”

The Comptroller’s resolution also details that “it was documentarily established” that from September 23, 2020, to May 24, 2021, dates of registration of the candidacy for President, Lasso “was not the direct or indirect owner of assets or capital” of fourteen companies that he lists, registered in countries such as Panama, Cayman Islands, and the USA.

It also specifies that the state of South Dakota, in the USA, where some of the assets mentioned in the papers were located, is not considered a tax haven or a preferential tax regime under Ecuadorian law.