The Legal Secretariat of the presidency sent a letter to the National Assembly (parliament) in which it justifies the absence of the president for “agenda reasons” at the appearance on the so-called Encuentro case.

The president of the commission, Assemblywoman Viviana Veloz, criticized the position of the president, who in her opinion decided to hide the truth from the country given the seriousness of the events denounced by the digital media La Posta at the beginning of January.

Although she had no legal obligation, she did have a moral one, the most important thing was to approach and tell Ecuadorians the truth, Veloz said in statements to the press.

If there are no acts of corruption, why does he refuse to show his face? Why don’t you allow your ministers to deliver the necessary information? questioned the legislator, who announced a new call for Lasso.

Although Veloz preferred not to anticipate results, she left open the possibility that the final report recommends to the plenary session of the National Assembly the holding of a political trial against the head of the Executive.

In the session on Monday, the former Minister of Government Francisco Jiménez, nor the Police Commander, Fausto Salinas, did not appear, among others summoned.

Mireya Pazmiño, legislator from the Pachakutik party, stated that the government is in permanent crisis and puts the country in the international gaze.

The one who did come was the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, to defend the change of the police team that works for the Prosecutor’s Office in the face of criticism of the decision due to the interference of the Executive in justice and how much that replacement can delay relevant investigations.

Also present was journalist Andersson Boscán, from La Posta, who handed over more than 35,000 documents on the alleged corruption plot involving people close to Lasso, such as his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera, whom they called the Great Godfather.

Earlier this Monday, the team of that outlet published an Ecuadorian intelligence report that reveals the alleged links of the government of President Lasso with the Albanian mafia and drug trafficking.

Regarding this disclosure, Zapata confirmed to the press the veracity of the document and added that it was archived due to lack of support, although this Monday the Prosecutor’s Office announced the reopening of said investigation.

ef/oda/avr