Ecuador: political trial of Lasso enters last week of hearings

 The hearings in the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament) as part of the impeachment process against President Guillermo Lasso will begin this week.

This Monday, the presence of legal professionals is expected to explain to the members of the legislative table how to proceed in this process of political accusation against a head of state.

According to the schedule, on Tuesday, the assembly members requesting the prosecution of the president are expected to present their arguments based on the crime of embezzlement, and on Wednesday the president will have the opportunity to make his own defense.

However, the presidency reported that Lasso’s lawyers will be the ones to intervene in trying to demonstrate that there was no political responsibility for the irregularities detected in a contract between the state-owned Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana and the Amazonas Tanker company.

In accordance with the appellant legislators, the agreement is the basis for prosecuting the president, who apparently knew about the anomalies and did nothing to stop them, despite being harmful to the country.

On Wednesday, April 26th, the phase devoted to hearing witnesses and analyzing documents will conclude, and from that moment the Commission will have 10 days to complete a report on the case.

Beyond the recommendation, the support of two-thirds of the plenary of the Assembly is needed to censure the head of state, that is, 92 out of 137 parliamentarians.