Ecuador’s Parliament will investigate corruption case related to Saab

The Supervisory Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Ecuador resolved this Tuesday to open the investigation of a case of alleged corruption that would involve the Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, prosecuted in the United States for alleged money laundering and as a front man for the president Nicolas Maduro.

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With five votes in favor and two abstentions, said Ecuadorian parliamentary commission, headed by legislator Fernando Villavicencio, akin to the ruling party, decided to open an investigation into Saab for a case of alleged fictitious exports between Venezuela and Ecuador, in alleged money laundering operations. during the government of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017).

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The investigation motion, presented by the official Ana Belén Cordero, was questioned by her colleague Roberto Cuero, from the opposition group UNES, related to former President Correa, when he warned that this investigation could affect others that the Inspection Commission already has on the agenda. .

In addition, Cuero assured that “each assembly member has the power to investigate” this case on their own, without the need for approval by the Commission, which has important issues at the local level, such as those related to two former ministers of the Government of former President Lenín Moreno. (2017-2021).

These cases, he said, are related to the former Minister of Energy René Ortiz, who sponsored a reform by which gasoline prices are increased, which until now is questioned by broad social and political sectors.

He also referred to the investigation against the former Minister of Economy Richard Martínez, also in Moreno’s period, who is accused of having privileged the payment to bondholders of the country’s foreign debt, in times of financial need to address the tragic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Villavicencio, for his part, indicated that the Saab issue is important for the country because it could shed new elements in an old investigation that absolved the businessman.

Likewise, Assemblywoman Cordero insisted on her investigation proposal, given that the Saab issue is part of the debate in a global situation, and that it could have national repercussions, since the accused operated in Ecuador in the past.

Both Cordero and Villavicencio made it clear that this investigation should not influence other cases that the Control Commission has in its hands, as well as those that are being followed by other parliamentary commissions, such as the Pandora papers, in which the current one is involved. President of the country, Guillermo Lasso, of the center-right CREO movement.

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Deshawn