ECUADOR’S fiscal watchdog said yesterday it had binned an investigation into President Guillermo Lasso for a lack of evidence that he had assets in tax havens when he ran for office.

The allegations that he had hidden millions in overseas assets arose from the so-called Pandora Papers revelations.

It was alleged the former banker owned 14 offshore companies, mainly in Panama, but closed them after a 2017 law prohibited presidential candidates owning companies in tax havens.

“When you work transparently, the truth always prevails,” the president said on Twitter yesterday, adding the report by the comptroller-general showed he had “complied with the law.”

The watchdog said it closed the probe after it did “not find objective elements” showing that Lasso was a direct or indirect owner of assets in fiscal paradises when he registered his candidacy or since becoming president in May this year.

A committee of Ecuador’s Congress, controlled by the opposition, also investigated the claims against Lasso, who refused to appear before it.

The committee adopted a report noting Lasso’s “non-observance” of tax haven rules, a sackable offence.

But Lasso’s government accused the opposition of trying to execute a coup d’etat. – AFP, December 8, 2021.