Ecuador's Parliament Asks President to Clarify Facts From Pandora Papers

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Political Oversight and Control Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador has asked President Guillermo Lasso for information and documents on his links to companies, trusts and funds listed in the Pandora Papers, commission head Fernando Villavicencio said on Tuesday.

"In view of the fact that no legislator has requested the National Assembly Inspection to initiate an investigation into the Pandora Papers, today I have asked Lasso Guillermo to provide information on the case. I will investigate not only the Pandora Papers, but also the links of former officials reported on in the Panama Papers," Villavicencio said on Twitter.

Villavicencio also attached to the post an official letter, in which he appealed to Lasso to provide documented information on whether the president had any business, financial or employment relationship with the companies mentioned in the Pandora Papers.

The dossier says Lasso is associated with 10 offshore companies and trusts in Panama, South Dakota and Delaware.

Two trusts, Bretten Trust and the Liberty US Trust, in South Dakota are allegedly used by Lasso to control his Panamanian business. In case of his death, they will pay compensation to his wife and children. The president himself told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in a letter dated September 27 that he had "no relationship of ownership, control, benefit, or interest of any kind" with these trusts.

The ICIJ said that other Lasso-related offshore companies and funds mentioned in the Pandora Papers were disbanded in 2017 before he became a presidential candidate. Lasso confirmed that the companies were "legally dissolved" and added that any past use of the international organizations on his part was legal - none of the offshore entities were associated with his government service.

"It is common knowledge that my assets specified in the declaration, which was submitted to the Comptroller General of the State, is the result of my life's work in Banco Guayaquil. All my income were declared and the relevant taxes, that make me one of the largest individual taxpayers in the country, were paid in Ecuador," Lasso said on Twitter.

The politician explained that his investment in Banco Guayaquil was restructured by the GLM Trust, an Ecuadorian organization, which is managed by a supervised trust fund.

On Sunday, the ICIJ published the so-called Pandora Papers, a dossier of more than 11.9 million leaked financial documents exposing over 35 current and former world leaders, as well as more than 330 politicians and officials worldwide, who allegedly committed various kinds of financial wrongdoings through offshore companies.