Quito, November 30 (Prensa Latina) With 116 votes in favor, one against and seven abstentions, the National Assembly (Parliament) of Ecuador today adopted a draft resolution that holds former President Guillermo Lasso responsible for embezzlement.
After two days of debate, Parliament decided to approve the document in which it alleges that the former president organized, knew about and consented to the diversion of public funds for which he is politically responsible and embezzlement.
The resolution was adopted after the Social Christian Party (PSC) faction suggested taking this route as they believed it would not be appropriate to vote to censure Lasso since he was no longer in office.
Previously, the Citizens’ Revolutionary Movement (RC) filed a motion of no confidence against Lasso, which drew mixed reactions from some lawmakers. They claimed that the Constitution does not allow censure without dismissal and that there can be no dismissal of someone who is no longer in office.
After long negotiations, the day after the impeachment trial last May, the vice president and member of the RC Bank, Viviana Veloz, presented the proposal to hold Lasso responsible for embezzlement and for rejecting the crucifixion ordered by the former ruler.
It is a symbolic censorship, said RC MP Sofía Espín, emphasizing that it is now up to the Attorney General’s Office to initiate an investigation against the former president.
Lasso’s impeachment file will be forwarded to the Justice Department and the State Comptroller General’s Office, which could include documentation from the prior investigation already underway.
Lasso never again, with this assertion the members of the assembly concluded this afternoon the legal proceedings against the banker, which resumed this Wednesday in the legislature after being paralyzed for six months by the death declaration of the former president in May, a mechanism with he dissolved the assembly and called for early elections in this South American country.
npg/nta