Lasso, during a meeting of the Ecuadorian government, this week in Quito. José Jácome (EFE)
The report of the inspection commission of the National Assembly, which analyzed the more than 100 pieces of evidence that were delivered in the impeachment process to the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, for the crime of embezzlement, did not reach the votes to approve the document that recommends that the prosecution of the president not take place.
"There are no elements to establish any political responsibility for the crime of embezzlement," stipulates one of the conclusions that was read in the session that took place last Saturday, which lasted for about seven hours and where only one of the four proponents of impeachment.
The commission's report is not binding, therefore, as part of the procedure, it was sent to the president of the Legislative Branch, Virgilio Saquicela, so that he can notify the assembly members within a maximum of 48 hours, who will be summoned to a session where they will have to appear President Lasso.
In that session, the 137 assembly members will debate whether the president has political responsibility or not and they will have a few more days to convene again and vote.
The approval of 92 lawmakers is required to censor and remove the president under Ecuadorian law.
The questioning legislators from the UNES bench accuse Lasso of having allowed a million-dollar contract between the state oil transport company, Flopec, and the
offshore
company Amazonas Tanker Pool to be maintained.
The impeachment request, which formally began on March 16 with the support of 59 legislators, could have an outcome at a key political moment, when Ecuador will have changes in local authorities, mayors and prefects, and within the Assembly they will reassign the members of the commissions and the highest authority of the Legislature for the next two years.
President Lasso also has the option of decreeing the cross death, a figure that is in the Ecuadorian Constitution that gives him the power to dissolve the Assembly and call early elections.
The president has already said that he will use this mechanism in case the
impeachment
against him prospers.
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