Ecuador’s National Assembly is expected on Tuesday, October 27, to debate and vote on a request to investigate allegations that employees of the Quito municipality were pressured to hand over part of their pay to fund political activity linked to Mayor Pabel Muñoz‘s re-election bid. The mayor and the municipal bus company named in the complaints reject the accusations and describe them as political persecution. No court has ruled on the case.
What lawmakers will decide
The proposal was presented by assembly member Andrés Castillo of the ADN movement. According to El Universo, it asks the Ministry of Labour to look into the employment circumstances surrounding the alleged collections and to gather, analyse and cross-check documentation about contributions reportedly demanded from staff of the Metropolitan District of Quito. On Thursday the plenary voted, with 81 votes, to place the item on the agenda of session No. 133, which was then suspended until this week. The request needs at least 77 votes to pass, and El Universo reports that ADN and its allies currently have them.
During the debate, Castillo also criticised the city’s management of transport, the Quito Metro and the public bike system, as well as the situation of municipal workers.
What the complaint alleges
The case reached the Assembly days after activist Juan Esteban Guarderas and lawyer Pablo Sempértegui filed a criminal complaint on Monday, October 19, against Muñoz and other municipal officials. They ask prosecutors to determine whether the mayor knew of or took part in possible offences of concusión (extortion by a public official) and bribery. The complaint builds on research published by the outlet Visionarias, the citizen collective Vértice and the Fundación Lucha Anticorrupción, which say the practice was known internally as vacunar — local slang for extorting payments — hence the nickname “VaQnas”.
According to the complainants’ account, reported by El Comercio, municipal workers were asked from 2024 onwards for monthly contributions of USD 60 to 120 depending on their salary, payable in the first five days of each month, plus allegedly mandatory raffles and bingos. They say they hold WhatsApp chats, audio recordings, testimonies, bank records and a video that allegedly shows a USD 60 cash handover. None of that material has been verified by a court, and no total amount has been established. Guarderas has floated a figure of about USD 960,000 a year, but he described it as a hypothetical estimate, not a sum proven to have been collected.
The complainants’ lawyers have requested protection measures for witnesses, citing online intimidation and an incident in which an object struck the car window of one person who gave a statement.
The municipality’s response
Muñoz and the authorities of the Quito Metropolitan Passenger Transport Company (EPMTPQ) have rejected the accusations and called them political persecution, Vistazo reported. The company says it was the one that first went to prosecutors: on July 27 it filed a complaint for alleged intimidation, and on July 30 it reported possible extortion and bribery offences after referring information to the city’s anti-corruption office, Quito Honesto. In an October 14 statement, it linked the earlier complaints to a former official who was dismissed after internal investigations, and questioned Guarderas’s conduct.
What is confirmed and what is pending
Confirmed: the criminal complaint has been filed and the oversight request is on the Assembly’s agenda. Pending: any decision by prosecutors or judges, and the outcome of Tuesday’s vote. The complainants have also announced filings with the Comptroller General and the Electoral Disputes Tribunal over alleged prohibited campaign financing. Everyone named in the complaints is presumed innocent.
Featured image: Quito with the Andes in the background. Photo by Anton Lukin on Unsplash (Unsplash License). Illustrative.
Sources
- El Universo — Caso VaQnas: el martes la Asamblea debate y vota (Spanish)
- El Comercio — Esta es la teoría que impulsa el caso Vaqnas (Spanish)
- El Comercio — ¿Qué es el caso Vqnas? (Spanish)
- Vistazo — Denuncian al alcalde de Quito, Pabel Muñoz (Spanish)
Celina Santa Cruz · Ecuador · Virtual editorial byline
English adaptation: Lin Wei · Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 25, 2026 · AI-assisted writing
