Ecuadornews:
Lenin Moreno, unchecked on Tuesday of allegations of alleged corruption that have circulated in recent days and said that such rumors could have alleged destabilizing interests.
In a message to the nation broadcast on television, Moreno responded to a complaint in which one of his brothers is involved with accounts in tax havens and a luxurious property in Spain, in a triangulation of an off-shore company.
The president pointed to his predecessor Rafael Correa (2007-2017) as the source of the rumor that, he said, seeks to destabilize the country, just outside the local elections on March 24.
In the presentation, Moreno presented a document and said that this was his “sworn statement” with his bank accounts and a certificate “of never having and never having offshore accounts”,
“I do not have nor have I had departments outside the country, because it is not in my plans to escape,” added the president in clear allusion to Correa, who resides in Belgium and is required by the justice of his country for a case of alleged kidnapping that he denies.
“When I finish the Presidency I will stay here, I will look everyone in the face and I will continue receiving, I am sure, their hugs, their affection and also their criticism,” he added.
The first denunciations arose last week as a result of the publication of a journalistic article of investigation, and on Monday an Assemblyman related to Correa, Ronny Aleaga, presented a complaint against Moreno in Spain.
Aleaga has convened a press conference on Wednesday in Guayaquil to give the details of his complaint.
Moreno, who rejects any accusation, insisted today on pointing his accusing finger at Correa.
“I do not need an attic in Europe to be happy. I do not have shares in companies or participation in my brothers’ businesses, much less my friends or acquaintances. I do not mix personal matters with the affairs of the State, “stressed the president, admitting that he did have an account in Switzerland when he was appointed as special envoy on Disability of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
“Once my mission was finished, I closed them (the accounts) by regulation and handed over my accounting report to both the Foreign Ministry and Ban Ki Moon,” the former UN Secretary General added, noting a plot of conspiracy in the allegations.
“All this is organized deliberately, within a strategy of destabilization of the country, engineered by a fugitive former president, causing the greatest moral, economic and social debacle that Ecuador has experienced,” he said.
Moreno said he suspects that these complaints have arisen now, when the country is preparing to participate in the elections of local authorities on March 24 and when it has intensified its fight against corruption.
“The closer we get to the truth, the more nervous the guilty get” and that is why these accusations are generated. “The rumor is equal to the lie, nobody wins with them,” he added. (I)
Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/leninmoreno-presidente-ecuador-declaraciones-XA2662880
