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The zero hour for Espin and Vallejo
Posted On 15 Oct 2018
Ecuadornews:
Crucial week to begin to clarify what limits and attributions they have. In the Assembly they begin in depth, from today, the investigations towards two assembly members who would have committed acts that do not match with their work as legislators.
The first to sit on the bench of the scrutineers is the Assemblywoman of the correísta wing, Sofía Espín Reyes, who was summoned to appear before the multiparty commission that was integrated by Jimmy Candell (National Integration bloc), Fernando Callejas (CREO) and Bairon Valley (Citizen Revolution).
Espín is asked about the visit she made to the former police officer, Diana Falcón, who is being held in a Social Rehabilitation Center in Quito, under the status of protected witness and is being prosecuted for the alleged kidnapping of politician Fernando Balda in which former President Rafael Correa is also being investigated.
But first, according to the summons, the CREO Assemblyman, Esteban Bernal, has been called, who is the informer of the case to explain the substance of his complaint and the evidence that supports it.
At 11:00 on the other hand will be the Secretary of the Policy and Minister of Justice (e) Paúl Granda who will provide videos and other evidence of the presence of Espín in that center, on September 24 last.
The commission also requested the presence of Falcón for this afternoon, but Judge Daniella Camacho, who is in the process of the alleged kidnapping, denied the possibility of the former leaving the Rehabilitation Center because a report determined that “it has a risk index.” extremely high “and its physical integrity must be guaranteed.
Instead, Falcón will be able to respond to the concerns of the assembly members through a videoconference. This appearance is scheduled for 3:00 pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, tomorrow the multiparty commission that will investigate the assembly PAIS (PA), Norma Vallejo, who is accused by legislators from other banks of having charged “tithes” to their employees in exchange for guaranteeing them the job .
The question is, what sanctions could an Assembly that has stumbled upon to agree on attempts to self-purge apply? In the case of Vallejo, the complainant assemblyman, Fabricio Villamar (CREO), thinks that there are sufficient grounds for dismissal.
Meanwhile, Callejas has stated that Espin, at least, could have breached the Public Service Law and that if it was demonstrated that the visit was aimed at changing Falcón’s version of the Balda case, it would be grounds for dismissal.
However, the political will of these assembly members could clash with the positions of the Plenary of the Assembly as a whole, which will finally be the one that knows, in ten days, the report presented by the multiparty commission and put to a vote the political future of Espin, first.
To know
Sanction
In 1997, the then Congress expelled 17 deputies accused of being part of the Peñaranda corruption network, which provided computer equipment to schools with surcharges.
Scandal
In 2005, Congress dismissed four deputies accused of provoking a scandal in Peru where they attended the round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement.
Review
In the last decade, the Assembly dominated by Alianza PAIS, received criticism for its low capacity to self-legislate. The only one who lost his seat was the opposition Assemblyman Cléver Jiménez. (I)
