María Alejandra Muñoz, new Vice president of Ecuador, eliminated import requirements for vehicles for people with disabilities, which caused an increase of 270%, in 2019
JOURNALISTS
María Alejandra Muñoz is a person very close to the Ruptura 25 movement, led by the Government Minister, María Paula Romo, and the Cabinet Secretary, Juan Sebastián Roldán.
During her tenure in the public and private sectors, she has kept a low profile, with facets little known by the country.
She was director of the National Customs Service, between September 20, 2018 and July 20, 2020.
There, on February 14, 2019, she signed Resolution SENAE 2019-011, with which she eliminated requirements for the importation of goods with tax exemption, for people with disabilities.
Among them, the affidavit before a notary by the beneficiary was eliminated, indicating that the assets will be used to meet the needs of the person with a disability.
In the opinion of the tax expert Carlos Calero, the elimination of this requirement prevents the beneficiary of the importation from being sued for perjury in the event of falsehood.
Calero believes that this decision had an impact on the increase in vehicle exports by people who had a disability card, issued by the Ministry of Health.
In 2018, 1,634 motor vehicles were imported, while in 2019, with the elimination of requirements, the figure increased to 4,426, representing an increase of 270%.
The paradox is that María Alejandra Muñoz, in a recent appearance at the Assembly’s Right to Health Commission, assured that last year she reported to the Ministry of Health the unusual increase in vehicle imports in 2019.
The value that the State stopped receiving due to the exemption of taxes on these motor vehicles was USD 66 million.
When SENAE issued the resolution, which eliminated the general import requirements, the entity highlighted as a benefit of this measure the “simplification and automation of the process, going from an average approval time of three months to 48 hours.”
Among those who had a disability card, and imported vehicles with tax exemption, there are assembly members, judges, high officials, soccer players and people investigated for corruption in public hospitals, such as Daniel Salcedo.
During the Muñoz administration, the customs guard and leader of the Confederation of Public Servants, Iván Bastidas Ordóñez, was persecuted with the opening of administrative summaries and fines because he having reported alleged irregularities in customs on social networks.
Bastidas also addressed an official letter to President Lenin Moreno in which he requested corrections from that institution, which was considered by the Customs legal department as a “serious offense”.
The International Public Services (ISP), a global trade union organization that defends workers’ rights, sponsors the defense of administrative processes, which are still ongoing.
Before arriving at the National Customs Service, Muñoz worked as undersecretary of the Presidential Agenda, between April 23 and September 20, 2018, as Juan Sebastián Roldán’s subordinate.
In her private activity as a lawyer, she provided legal services at Cervecería Nacional, between 2009 and 2017, a period that coincides with the complaint that this company would have paid USD 1,050,000 for a ruling by the Constitutional Court, against former workers. .
1,200 former employees of Cervecería Nacional demanded the payment of USD 90 million for backward profits from the years 1990 to 2005.
In January 2011, coinciding with the month in which the ruling in favor of the company was issued, then-Assemblyman Galo Lara reported that Cervecería Nacional paid three checks to the brother of the secretary of the Constitutional Court, Arturo Larrea.
According to the portal, República del Banana, María Alejandra Muñoz, was the architect of this episode, which harmed the former workers, who to this day continue to fight in judicial instances.
During the time he served at Cervecería Nacional, Muñoz declared high sums as Income Tax. The year with the highest value was 2016, with USD 192,281.
On July 20, in her sworn declaration of the beginning of functions as vice president of the Republic, before the General Comptroller of the State, she declared an estate for USD 666,482.
Be the first to comment