Piñera, Lasso and others respond to Pandora's roles 3:53
(CNN Spanish) -
The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, assured this Wednesday in a letter to the legislative commission investigating the Pandora Papers case that he has not evaded taxes and that his tax trajectory is legally supported.
Lasso was summoned for this Wednesday by the Commission of Constitutional Guarantees of the Assembly to appear and answer the queries of its members regarding the publication of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on business in tax havens of politicians, officials audiences and other figures.
Hours before the meeting in the Assembly, Lasso sent a letter to the president of the commission, José Fernando Cabascango, of the Pachakutik movement, in which he responded with some clarifications and offered his availability to receive the commission in the presidential palace after all appearances in this process have ended.
Lasso said that he has "the right to know in advance the assertions that have been made in said forum."
Some of those mentioned in Pandora's Papers and their answers
Pandora Papers Reveal Offshore Financial Industry 1:18
The accusations against Lasso
Lasso, who was executive president of Banco Guayaquil until 2012, says in the letter that all his income "has been from an Ecuadorian source" and "declared in Ecuador."
The president says that he has paid "all the taxes of the law" in the country and that he has not received "any income from abroad."
He insisted that, in the last 15 years, Banco de Guayaquil, Corporación Multibg SA and the GLM Trust have paid taxes and contributions for US $ 588 million.
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Lasso specified that by registering his candidacy as president and until now he is not the "direct or indirect owner" of property or capital in jurisdictions considered tax havens and that he has complied with this constitutional provision to be qualified as a presidential candidate.
He also explained that at least eight entities established in tax havens years ago were legally dissolved, also in the past.
Lasso responded to the Consortium of Investigative Journalists that he disposed of these properties before he was a presidential candidate.
In his letter, he also indicated that three entities - such as the Panamanian bank Banisi and the American trusts Bretten Trust and Liberty Trust - are not owned or administered by him.
Lasso reminded the Assembly that the Comptroller's Office is the organism called upon to investigate whether there was a breach of the law in this case and that this institution has already initiated an investigation at his request in which he assures that it will provide the information that the Comptroller's Office requires.
Pandora Papers: "It is not in itself illegal to have an account abroad"
The bad reputation of 'off shore' companies 2:47
In his letter, Lasso cited article 9 of the Law for the application of the Popular Consultation of 2017, which resolved that no public official or popularly elected candidate may have assets or capital in tax havens.
This article establishes that, if the State Comptroller's Office considers that there is a cause for presidential dismissal, the file will be sent to the Constitutional Court for it to "confirm or reject" the ruling, and that only the "ratifying resolution" of the Court will serve as basis for the Assembly to adopt the corresponding decision according to the law.
The legal secretary of the Presidency, Fabián Pozo, who went to the Assembly to deliver Lasso's letter, said in statements to the media that the Assembly is confusing its functions: "He has nothing to hide (Lasso), he has paid all his taxes, all its fiscal obligations. The Assembly does not have competence, there is a special and specific procedure to investigate this type of accusation. This procedure must be respected, the Comptroller's Office has initiated an examination on this issue and a parallel procedure cannot be created by circumventing the rules and the law. However, the president is willing to receive the commissioners once they evacuate all the proceedings, "Pozo said.
CNN has not done its own analysis of the statements and documents published by the ICIJ.
Having accounts in banks or offshore or "offshore" companies is not necessarily illegal.
Guillermo Lassopapeles from Pandora