Mentioned by the journalistic investigation of the “Pandora Papers”, the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso (right), is looking for a defense strategy. On Wednesday October 13, during a television interview, the former banker, who claims to no longer own any offshore company, said he was the victim of a “International conspiracy”, of a “ conspiracy ” interior plotted by its political enemies. He denounced an attempt to “Putsch against democracy”. Three days earlier, 105 deputies of the National Assembly, out of 137, had voted to open an investigation to shed light on the possible assets abroad of Mr. Lasso.
Responsible for the investigation, the parliamentary committee on constitutional guarantees must submit its report within a month. Auditions are due to start on Monday, October 18. Eight international observers – whose names have not been specified – will follow the investigation in order to ensure its 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 prison environment – on September 28 119 inmates of Guayaquil prison were killed in clashes attributed to gang rivalries linked to Mexican drug cartels – and growing social unrest.
“Find the culprits”
The collaborative investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed that he has controlled 14 offshore companies, including 11 based in Panama. In a video released by the government on October 7, the head of state said “Automatically getting rid of all these companies” in 2017, when then-socialist president Rafael Correa passed a law prohibiting presidential candidates from having assets in tax havens. Admitting that he had had, “Years ago, legitimate investments in other countries”, Mr. Lasso clarified: “My income comes from my decades of working at the Bank of Guayaquil. “
In a three-page letter to the director of the daily El Universo, member of the ICIJ, the president questioned the rigor of the information provided and denounced “The lack of journalistic ethics” from Journal. He said he and his companies had contributed $ 588 million (€ 481 million) to the tax authorities over the past fifteen years, including $ 18 million personally.
On Wednesday in a television interview, Mr. Lasso gave the amount of taxes paid by several of his political opponents. Indian leader and peasant Leonidas Iza, he said, would have paid $ 1,000 in fifteen years. “It is incomprehensible that citizens who do not pay taxes claim to contest a well-justified heritage, the fruit of honest work”, said the very wealthy president.
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