Ecuador’s House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to continue the political trial against President Guillermo Lasso for embezzlement, which could take Operation Labyrinth toward its final stage.
Laso has long denied opposition allegations that he turned a blind eye to alleged embezzlement related to a contract at state-owned oil tanker Flopec, arguing that his management made lucrative changes to the deal, which was signed years earlier. .
According to the decision, which was approved by 88 out of the 116 deputies present, Laso and his opponents will testify before the full National Assembly and then face a final vote that could lead to their impeachment.
Laso and Hernán Luque, former president of the board of directors of Cundinadora de Empressas Publicas, “knew the continuation of oil transportation contracts in favor of third parties, realizing that they represent a loss for the state,” as stated in the resolution approved by the National Assembly.
And he adds, “As a result, the President of the Republic was aware of and knew the structure of corruption in Flopck.”
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The vote comes despite a report from the National Assembly’s oversight committee, which heard witnesses last month and concluded there was no reason to impeach or impeach Laso.
Only four of the nine committee members endorsed that conclusion over the weekend.
Laso’s allies questioned the legality of the impeachment process, the first against a president in decades. He said that efforts are influenced by political negotiations.
“The Assembly has decided to continue the political trial of the President of the Republic in an illegal process that was born, developed and will end without evidence, without arguments and with serious legal flaws,” said Government Minister Henri Cocalon. on Twitter.
“We remain firm in defending the right of Ecuadoreans to live in democracy,” he said.
The assembly is set to elect a new leadership that may replace the assembly’s president, Virgilio Sakesila, on Sunday.
92 votes are needed to dislodge Laso, and lawmakers from the party of former president Rafael Correa – himself a convicted graft – pledged to support 47 votes. Other opposition parties are divided on whether to support deportation.
Lasso has an adversarial relationship with the 137-member legislature. Some members of the opposition tried to oust him last year amid intense protests by indigenous groups.
Under Ecuador’s constitution, Lasso can call snap presidential and legislative elections rather than face an impeachment vote.
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