Presidential aircraft flew to tax havens in ex-government

Ecuadornews:

Rafael Correa crossed the Atlantic to reach Europe, Asia and Africa. In his government of a decade he used two planes: the Falcon 7X and the Legacy for a total of 214 trips abroad: 63 of the former president; 72 of the former Chancellor; 36 of the former vice president; 27 of the former ministers; and 16 from other authorities. Of those flights, 151 were used by other authorities.

That distorts the nature of the goods because both aircraft were defined as presidential, notes the report of the special examination of the Comptroller to the use of aircraft and presidential flights in the period between January 1, 2012 and May 24, 2017 Those trips did not have precise objectives and it is not known if they were made for official activities.

They also did not count on the weight register of cargo and luggage, nor with the number of passengers, the report adds. The examination, which was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, determines indications of criminal responsibility for the ex-authorities, managers and involved in those cases.

The analysis indicates that Correa was not the custodian of those airplanes, but as the highest authority he had to guide the care and the correct use of them. Why? To ensure the economy and its efficient use. Therefore, the former president did not comply with Article 22 of the Public Service Law and did not observe article 3 of the regulations for the Administration regarding the use, management and control of public sector assets.

In his government, in addition, there were other flights on planes from Tame, Petroecuador and Petroamazonas, which did not have the order or authorization from the Presidency. The orders of those trips said that their mission was to transport different authorities. But they did not specify their names or public office. But, perhaps, the most important thing in the report is that 24 flights were identified to tax havens such as Panama, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Granada, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cape Verde, Belize, Dominica, the Arab Emirates and Luxembourg. In those journeys they did not register all the passengers.

For example: from 2012 to 2015, the ex-chancellor made eight trips, whose route included those nations. There his stay was between 45 minutes and 21 hours, says the report. In 2016 and 2017, the former finance minister made four trips, in two of which was the former manager of Petroecuador; and on another flight, the former Secretary of Public Financing.

According to the report, on a flight from the former finance minister, on November 28, 2016, the route was Quito-Buenos Aires (1 day); Natal, Africa, (2 hours); Bangkok, Thailand, (two days); Dubai (one day); Doha-Qatar (11 hours); Dubai (one day); Paris (50 minutes); Newark, New York, (two hours and 30 minutes; Mcguire (12 hours); Newark (two hours) -Quito: On that trip, the number of passengers changed on boarding and disembarking, but there are no explanations about it.

There were authorities from other countries flying on presidential aircraft, for example, on the trip of May 25, 2013, on the route Quito-Guayana-Granada-Antigua Barbuda-Barbados-Latacunga, ministers of Guyana, the Chancellor of Suriname, addressed and other foreigners who were not identified.

In international flights to tax havens, which were in charge of the Special Air Transport Group (GTA), neither the hand luggage nor the cargo was inspected. Legacy plane, from June 22, 2012, to Rio de Janeiro, requested by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, did not have any passengers, which hurt the coffers of the State, which are fed by citizens’ taxes, at 32,903.81 dollars, points the report. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/aviones-paraisos-fiscales-exgobierno