QUITO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — Ecuador’s new National Assembly (unicameral Congress) on Thursday gave up censuring the country’s former president Guillermo Lasso over alleged embezzlement in a political trial whose proceedings resumed in parliament over the past two days , the parliamentary panel reported.
The Assembly concluded that Lasso cannot be censured or dismissed under Article 129 of the Constitution because he is no longer in office.
However, instead, with 116 votes in favor, a resolution was adopted declaring that the former president “is politically responsible for the violation of embezzlement,” the Assembly Secretariat reported on its account on the social network.
In the resolution, the Assembly asserts that Lasso organized, knew about and consented to the diversion of public funds, for which he bears political responsibility for the embezzlement.
The crime would have been committed in a multi-million dollar contract by the public company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (Flopec) for the rental of vessels for the transport of hydrocarbons, which would have damaged the state, allegations that Lasso denies.
The resolution adopted by the Assembly was proposed by Representative Viviana Veloz of the Citizens’ Revolutionary Movement and current First Vice President of the Legislature, who previously served as interpellant for Lasso in the impeachment trial that began last May.
The impeachment process remained unfinished on May 17, when then-President Lasso, in an unprecedented manner, enacted the constitutional figure of “crossed death,” dissolving the National Assembly and calling for early parliamentary elections in the midst of a political crisis.
With this measure, Lasso, a former conservative banker, shortened his term in office from 2021 to 2025 and left power on November 23, the day Daniel Noboa took office as the new president after losing power in the second round of early elections last year had won elections 15.
The resolution adopted today also accuses the former President of shirking his responsibilities through “crossed death” and decided to share the contents of the resolution and the entire file with the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Comptroller General’s Office.
This concludes the impeachment proceedings against the former president. However, if evidence is found, prosecutors could include the documents in an earlier investigation of the same case pending at the State Department.