Pandora Papers: Guillermo Lasso asks the Comptroller of Ecuador to verify his declaration of assets

The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, asked the State Comptroller to verify the wealth declaration he presented before assuming office in May and, to that end, renounce bank secrecy, in an attempt to alleviate the media effects of the Pandora Papers scandal.

“I respectfully request that you order an examination of my sworn wealth declaration as authorized by article 31 of the Organic Law of the General Comptroller of the State and article 15 of the Law of Presentation and Control of Sworn Equity Declarations”, dice Lasso in a letter sent to the comptroller Carlos Riofrío.

The letter, which was made public through official channels, also ensures that Lasso ratifies the “renunciation of banking secrecy” so that the review can be carried out.

The petition, dated this Wednesday, follows growing calls for the president of Ecuador clarify your financial situation after your name appears on the Pandora Papers, in which it is found that he had properties in tax havens until 2017.

The president has assured that this information was public knowledge, as well as that he got rid of them after a referendum prohibited public and elected officials from having assets in tax havens, and given that he aspired to the presidency in the elections of that year .

Despite this, there have been numerous calls for him to clarify his situation, and this Wednesday, one of his rivals in the first round of the February elections this year, Yaku Pérez, filed a complaint against him with the Attorney General’s Office.

Pérez has requested that the review be extended until 2013, the first time that Lasso, a former banker, aspired to the presidency, despite the fact that the prohibition on having assets in tax havens did not apply at the time.

“We Ecuadorians are ashamed to have the first president among the first figures of world leaders of tax evaders”The former candidate emphasized in a statement he made to the media before submitting his complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Quito.

Pérez was the candidate who for several weeks disputed the second place in the ballot for Lasso, considering that electoral fraud had occurred in the first round of the elections in February.

In addition to Pérez, there have been other opposition politicians who have asked the president for public explanations, including Fernando Villavicencio, president of the National Assembly’s Supervisory Commission, who has told him to do so “documentary.”

To the latter, Lasso He has invited him to his office today, with the rest of the members of the Commission, to ask him whatever questions they deem appropriate.

The president defends that his assets are “transparent” and that, “consistent” with his belief that “the exercise of public function is based on ethics and a vocation of service,” he is also open to a review by the Comptroller’s Office. .

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