The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso. Photo: Portal.
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador (CC) gave the green light to the political trial of President Guillermo Lasso the day before, after issuing a partial admissibility verdict regarding alleged crimes against state security as a result of an investigation into a corruption plot in the country’s public companies.
In particular, from the CC they explained that The allegation of alleged embezzlement was admitted, but not the two charges of alleged extortion.
With regard to these two non-admissions, the panel justified its decision by non-compliance with the requirements set out in Article 148 of the Organic Law on Ensuring Jurisdiction and Constitutional Control.
“This court — by six votes in favor and three against — urges the institutions involved in the impeachment process to always act within the canons provided for in the constitution and the rule of law,” the institution’s statement said.
The decision comes after the six required positive votes were not reached on March 27, for which two more rapporteurs were appointed.
The government respects the statement but rejects the impeachment
For its part, the General Secretariat for Communications of the Presidency issued a statement in which claims to respect the CC’s decisionwhile rejecting the political process and affirming the President’s innocence.
“This decision in no way confirms the lawmakers’ arguments against the President. The Assembly’s approach has never had and never will have legal or political support. As it is public knowledge, the document has been modified several times and has countless errors. They stood out from the executive branch.
Next Steps
The plenary session of the National Assembly is convened to hear the UNES Bank’s request to initiate the impeachment procedure against the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso. Photo: The Universe / File.
After the President of the country’s National Assembly finally obtains the approval of the CC’s plenary session, the President of the country’s National Assembly has a period of three days to return the document to the Legislative Administration Council (CAL), which then sends it to the Oversight Commission of the forwarded to Parliament. This in turn has to decide within 30 days whether the study is recommended or not.
When the report of the Supervisory Commission is available, the Speaker of the National Assembly will convene the plenary session to conduct the prosecution. In the session, the President has the right to defend himself and to approve the motion of no confidence, a qualified majority (92 votes) must be reached.
It is worth remembering that the whole process officially began on March 16, with the submission of the motion to prosecute Lasso before Parliament by lawmakers from different factions. The motion took shape after a report was approved recommending impeachment against Lasso.
The investigation
The impeachment request against Lasso was made following the journalistic publication since last January by the local digital media La Posta, in which they revealed the existence of an alleged corruption network in public companies in Ecuador, which would be run by Danilo Carrera, Lasso’s brother-in-law.
The case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office (FGE), an entity that dubbed the case “Encounter” despite being known in the media as “The Great Godfather”.
The alleged corruption scheme would operate primarily in the National Electricity Corporation (CNEL) and in the Electricity Corporation of Ecuador (Celec); and it would have extended to Petroecuador as well.
In addition, according to the revelations, the Ecuadorian government allegedly has connections to drug trafficking, specifically to the Albanian mafia.
(With information from RT in Spanish)
See also:
Lasso against the ropes