The National Assembly (Parliament) Oversight Commission has already launched the procedure of the trial that could herald the end of Lasso’s mandate after the Constitutional Court gave the green light to the motion.
During the session, the head of this Legislative Table, Fernando Villavicencio, indicated that they would only deal with embezzlement and the valid evidence would be that relating to this allegation.
For Villavicencio there will be no place in the debates last Friday about allegations of corruption in the state-owned company Petroecuador or about alleged links to the drug trade and the Albanian mafia through his murdered brother-in-law Danilo Carrera and his operator Rubén Cherres.
This criterion has been refuted by other Assembly members such as Roberto Cuero of the Bank of the Union for Hope (UNES), who warned that this is not a criminal trial but a political one, pointing out that in this trial “the future of the country is at stake”.
Villavicencio believes he is a foreman and not president of a legislative commission, MP Ricardo Ulcuango, also from UNES, said, adding that “in his desperation to defend a corrupt government, he is exposing himself for who he is.” , a simple lasso operator.” .
The political process was led by Assembly members Viviana Veloz from UNES; Pedro Zapata from the Christian Social Party; Mireya Pazmiño, representative of Pachakutik; and Rodrigo Fajardo of the Democratic Left.
The accusation recognized by the Constitutional Court specifically refers to obvious irregularities in Flopec’s hiring of ships for the transport of crude oil in 2018.
Lasso defended himself, saying the evidence supporting the indictment was signed before he became president and prosecutors say they haven’t even opened an investigation into it.
However, the filing shows that former Flopec executive Johnny Estupiñán twice notified the governor of the illegal acts in the Amazonas Tanker Pool contracts.
Regardless of the allegations, there are other complaints that, while not accepted by the court, create an unfavorable context for the president.
Lasso reached this point after digital media La Posta unearthed audio files and documents earlier this year linking his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera to acts of corruption that the chief executive appeared to know about and did nothing about.
A scandal also erupted over alleged government links to drug trafficking, particularly to the Albanian mafia through Carrera and its operator Rubén Cherres, who was assassinated last Friday and therefore withheld much information vital to the case.
Faced with this scenario, former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) felt that, regardless of the allegation of embezzlement, it was necessary to discuss other issues, such as the relationship with the Albanian mafia and the murder of Cherres.
lam/avr