Progress in the Pandora Papers research process has depended on a matter of political will. While Ina Papers progresses slowly.
Unlike Pandora Papers case, that involves the president Guillermo Lasso and on which the Constitutional Guarantees Commission have the report ready, the process on Ina Papers go slowly.
The last time it was known about the state of Ina Papers It was on September 27, 2021, when the Audit Commission called the former president Lenin Moreno to appear on October 1. The members sought to consult him about the establishment of the company Ina Investment Corp. and the assets that he would have received while he was Secretary General of the United Nations for Disability and Accessibility in Geneva.
However, Moreno, through a statement posted on his Twitter account, excused himself noting that the call by the Audit Commission is illegal and unconstitutional.
“The investigations judicial they must be processed in the pertinent instances and not by initiatives that have political spectacles as a purpose ”, wrote the ex-president.
In this letter, addressed to Santiago Becdach, the Commission’s reporting secretary, Moreno argues that “he has not established any company abroad, nor do I have or have had interests in the company Inna, let alone received or possess assets abroad.”
The call that the Assembly Commission has made me is unconstitutional and illegal.
Judicial investigations must be processed in the pertinent instances and not for initiatives that are intended for political spectacles. pic.twitter.com/IyP3OJ43ZV– Lenin Moreno (@Lenin) September 29, 2021
On this, the assemblyman for UNES and who presented a petition to investigate the issue, Ronny Aleaga, points out that three weeks ago the State Attorney General (FGE) received strong information from the International Criminal Assistance of Spain about assets that would be related to the family of former President Lenín Moreno.
For this case, the FGE opened an investigation process in 2019 that would involve Moreno and close people with offshore companies. Around this investigation, this entity handles the hypothesis that, through Ina Investment, goods were purchased for the department in which Moreno lived in Geneva and that it would be linked to one of the contractors of Sinohydro, Conto Patiño Martínez.
The Chinese transnational Sinohydro was in charge of building the hydroelectric Coca Elbow Sinclair and, within this investigation, the Oversight Commission was able to determine that, during the management of the former subrogate controller, Pablo Celi, glosses for $ 295 million that were affixed to Sinohydro faded for the construction of this hydroelectric plant.
“This complaint is still in the preliminary investigation stage, which is very rare because this process usually lasts two years, but the excuse of the Prosecutor’s office It has been that there are international criminal assistance in several countries (Panama, Switzerland, Spain and Ecuador) that have not yet arrived and that is why they have not yet been able to resolve this process. Even Moreno has already left the country, ”says Aleaga and calls on the Prosecutor’s Office to expedite the investigation with all the information it has.
Regarding the process in the Assembly, Aleaga said that the Legislative “continues to cover up the Moreno’s misdeeds and his family, because what they did from the Supervisory Commission was not strong enough, since Moreno’s family and the authorities who should follow up on that case have not been summoned, “he said.
For the constitutional lawyer André Benavides, this process has advanced at a slow pace, because it has to do with a political issue. “The Assembly of the last legislative period did not fulfill its functions and, although an investigation was carried out by the Audit Commission, led by Daniel Mendoza, what kind of results can we have from this body if the former assemblyman was more corrupt than the president himself ”, he mentions.
The difference between these cases, as Aleaga explains, would be that, in the case of Ina Papers there is a criminal complaint filed by Aleaga for the crime of bribery, influence peddling and illicit enrichment; Meanwhile in Pandora Papers is accused of figurehead and tax evasion. “In Moreno’s process the money comes from corruption, in Lasso’s, from his work as a private businessman, but with alleged tax evasion,” he argues.
Outside the country
Despite the fact that on June 29, 2021, the president of the Audit Commission, Fernando Villavicencio, said in an interview that Lenin Moreno could not leave the country, on August 17, the ex-president informed the Assembly that he will be absent for three months to carry out work and personal activities.
“Lenín Moreno was never banned from leaving the country, that is, Prosecutor’s office or he did nothing, so he has nothing to prevent him from leaving Ecuador ”, concludes Benavides.
