Draft accuses Lasso of having ties to tax havens

The Constitutional Guarantees Commission has until Saturday, November 6 to present its final report on the subject.

The Constitutional Guarantees Commission has until this November 6 to present the report that will be sent to the Plenary of the Assembly to adopt a resolution regarding the investigation of the ‘Pandora Papers’, in which the president is involved Guillermo Lasso.

LA HORA unofficially knew the draft of the report. The document indicates that there is a direct link between the president Guillermo Lasso, as the majority shareholder of Corporación MULTIBG SA, with the financial group Banco de Guayaquil, which also acts as the controlling entity and which groups the companies: Corporación MULTIBG, Mercantile Administration Trust GLM, Promoquil, Mercantile Administration Trust MELM; This group includes BANISI and BANISI HOLDING domiciled in Panama.

Furthermore, in the draft of the report makes sure that the president Guillermo Lasso is the majority shareholder of Grupo Economico Banco de Guayaquil- Corporación MULTIBG SA and that, for this reason, all the decisions that the group has taken in matters of national and international investments, creation of off shore in tax havens, creation of offshore trusts must necessarily have the endorsement, consent and approval of the president Guillermo Lasso to be legal and binding.

Lasso has publicly pointed out the alleged dissolution of its ties with offshore companies in tax havens. However, in the opinion of the members of the Commission, for the president Guillermo Lasso does not have any ownership relationship with BANISI and with the affiliated offshore entities, it would have been necessary for it to dispose of its shares in the GLM Mercantile Administration Trust; However -they point-, so far the available information shows that Lasso maintains its possession of the shares of the GLM Mercantile Administration Trust.

Therefore, in the opinion of the Commission, the President would be subject to the prohibition established in Article 4 of the Organic Law for the Application of the Popular Consultation carried out on February 19, 2017, as well as the inability established in the Art. 7 of the aforementioned law, for the general elections of the year 2021. These norms prohibit a person from being a candidate for a position of popular election and acting as such if he maintains operations in tax havens.

Similarly, the document indicates that the Banco de Guayaquil-MULTIBG SA group has 62 companies in the country and two registered in Panama, but it would also be related, according to information from the ‘Pandora Papers‘, with 22 off shore in tax havens.

The report It is abundant in that of those 62 companies, only 10 have paid income tax. And he adds that in the SRI payment history it can be seen that the majority of trusts and group companies have not paid income taxes.

In addition, the draft of the report indicates that there is a large difference between the income tax paid by the Bank of Guayaquil and that of Guillermo Lasso Well, while the former pays 3.01%, Lasso pays more than 30% of the income tax and that this would be a strategy that would allow tax evasion and avoidance.

“In this context, the President of the Republic would have no room for maneuver to carry out the National Development Plan, and his social credibility would collapse, while generating an environment of frustration, social conflict, and collective shame in society, which would cause a scenario of social upheaval, because it radically alters the ethical and deontological coordinates of the political system, and makes possible the anomie of the institutions ”, points out the draft.

What’s next

Once the report final and socialized with the Plenary of the AssemblyYou can decide between two options: that other State institutions, which are to control and fight corruption, be called upon to initiate the corresponding investigations; or that the Legislature initiate the process of dismissal of the president Lasso.

One of the conclusions reached in the draft of the report of 205 pages, is that the Prosecutor’s Office must initiate investigations to determine whether the environment close to Lasso, such as wife, children, Eugenia Touriz, Miguel Macías Yerovi, Arturo Serrano Salgado, among others, “fraudulently consented to pass off as his is the property or money that is actually owned by the lord Lasso mendoza and, in this way, hide and prevent the State from determining whether or not the aforementioned maintains assets in tax havens and thus prevent him from exercising the public office of President of the Republic or having been a candidate ”.

For the constitutional lawyer Ismael Quintana, it is difficult that with that report It is recommended, as indicated in Article 77 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Function (LOFL), the initiation of a political trial against the President. Quintana explains that “the grounds for constitutional accusation against the President of the Republic are determined in Article 129 of the Constitution of the Republic” and are: crime against humanity, crimes against state security and crimes against public administration such as bribery, concussion, embezzlement or illicit enrichment.

That is, the case ‘Pandora Papers‘It does not fall under any of these three grounds for which the Assembly could not initiate a political trial against the Head of State.

However, if the Commission determines that, in effect, the President is related to tax havens, and that this conduct of the President has generated a serious internal commotion, Quintana comments, he can “recommend to the Plenary the beginning of the process of dismissal simple or summary invoking article 130, numeral 2, of the Constitution ”.

The government’s position

The roadmap for this investigation included the collection and systematization of information, analysis and conclusions, and was based on the provisions referred to in the Organic Law of the Legislative Function.

For this, national and foreign journalists who participated in the investigation of the case, experts in different topics, were summoned to appearances, and requests for information were made to public institutions such as the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), the State Comptroller General’s Office. (CGE), the National Electoral Council (CNE), the Contentious Electoral Tribunal (TCE), the Internal Revenue Service (SRI), among others.

In the framework of this research, President Guillermo Lasso was summoned twice to appear before the Assembly Commission, but he did not go to any call. On the first occasion, the President sent an official letter addressed to the president of the organization, José Cabascango, in which he stated that “neither the National Assembly nor the Commission are the competent bodies to investigate the causes related to non-compliance with the law.” However, he pointed out that he would attend the summons if they allowed him to be the last of those appearing.

While on the second call, Lasso He sent a letter in which he indicated his invitation for the members of the Commission to come to the Carondelet Palace to answer their concerns. However, the request was rejected by Cabascango.

This medium contacted the official government spokesperson, Carlós Jijón, to find out the Executive’s position on the content of the draft. In a first call, the official asked to be contacted again within hours. However, until 4:00 p.m. no reply was obtained.

Oswaldo Moreno, political analyst, highlights that the political class is in a struggle indifferent to other problems that exist in the country such as the economic, social and security issues.

It emphasizes that if the Commission resolves the guilt of the President, there would be no social upheaval. “What is going to happen here is that political actors will be delegitimized and that is much worse than an October (2019) because the absence of a State and a legislature can trigger serious things without the need for a convulsion,” he says.

The scene of impeachment

The Constitution of Ecuador, in article 130 numeral 2, dictates that the National Assembly may remove to the President of the Republic “in the event of a serious political crisis and internal commotion.” Something that in theory does not apply to this case. However, since it is a ground for free interpretation and as, on this occasion, a ruling from the Constitutional Court is not required, the Assembly could eventually remove to President Lasso arguing that there is a serious political crisis and internal upheaval.

For this to be possible, the Assembly must approve the report and, to initiate the procedure, 70 votes will be needed, against which, according to the constitutionalist Ismael Quintana, Pachakutik’s votes would be unpredictable and decisive.

If a process of dismissal, Lasso he would be summoned to the Plenary where he would exercise the right to defense, as determined by article 130 of the Constitution and 72 hours after this appearance, the Assembly would have to meet again to open the debate. After this, there must be a qualified majority of 91 votes to finally approve the dismissal or the so-called crossed death promoted by the National Assembly.

Later, according to the same article of the Constitution, the vice president would be the one who would assume the head of state until the early presidential and parliamentary elections are held, a process that could last between 4 or 5 months. The new authorities would complete the constitutional period 2021-2025.

In the event that the Commission recommends to the full Assembly to urge other State institutions such as the Comptroller’s Office or the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out investigations of the case in criminal matters and administrative control actions, they will be in charge of taking a decision.

“The Comptroller’s decision is important; If it finds any irregularity, it could recommend that the official be dismissed; and, in this case, this would have to pass to the Constitutional Court, which would have to issue an admissibility decision and with this the Assembly would be empowered to remove to the President, ”says Quintana, for whom this scenario is the most likely, because it would be a way for the Legislature to deliver a final decision to that control entity.

With this, “the Assembly throws the ball to another body and waits for the results of the Comptroller’s reports to know if Lasso whether or not it incurred an illegality and, based on this, the possibility is opened that, with a report from the Comptroller, the Assembly may dismiss the president from office ”, he points out.

The data:

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -OECD-, 5 to 7 trillion dollars are hidden in tax havens.