The president was called by the Constitutional Guarantees Commission to give his testimony after an international journalistic investigation revealed that leaders and personalities from around the world hid assets in tax havens.
The commission called Lasso, a 65-year-old former right-wing banker, for Wednesday afternoon.
In a letter, the president notified that he will not go to parliament, but that he is willing to receive the legislators at the government headquarters “once all the appearances foreseen in the work schedule have been evacuated.”
Lasso claimed that he has a “full right” to know the statements of the rest of the people mentioned before giving his own testimony.
The president’s wife and son will not come to testify before the parliamentary commission, considering that they are not obliged because they are not public officials.
Lasso, who took office in May, controlled 14 offshore companies, most based in Panama, and closed after former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) passed a law in 2017 that prohibited Ecuador’s presidential hopefuls from having companies in tax havens, according to Pandora Papers.
“Neither when registering my presidential candidacy, nor since then until today, have I been involved in the aforementioned prohibition,” he said in his letter.
The president acknowledges that he had “legitimate investments in other countries,” which he got rid of to be a candidate in this year’s elections.
He also asked the Comptroller to examine his assets and confirmed his resignation from bank secrecy, which he did before taking office as required by law.
The Minister of Government (Interior), Alexandra Vela, maintains that Congress intends to take him to a political trial, a mechanism by which he can be removed from office.
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