In a new aspect of the mega-scandal of the false passport network, for which the former custodian of Luis Lacalle Pou, Alejandro Astesiano, is accused, the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that it has data that shows at least 22 false Uruguayan passports that would have been processed by an official at the consulate in Moscow.
As broadcast this Sunday the program Nothing to loseof M24, the prosecutor in charge of the case, Gabriela Fossati, found that a consular official in the Russian capital certified Russian citizens as if they were Uruguayans, when in fact they were not. This process gave them the right to have Uruguayan citizenship.
According to Fossati, at least 22 passports issued in the last two years have been found.
Astesiano is still behind bars
The prosecutor managed to extend until March 2023 the precautionary measure of preventive detention for Astesiano, who is charged as the alleged leader of the network of false passports to Russian citizens that operated under the very nose of Lacalle Pou, on the fourth floor of the Executive Tower from Independence Square.
The full accusation includes association to commit a crime, influence peddling and assumption of marital status and investigated for money laundering.
“(This) is an investigation in which day by day we arrive at new data and it is very important to protect them (…) Freedom would correspond if there was no risk of losing the information,” argued the lawyer when requesting the extension of the prison.
In addition, he believes that the responsibility of the former head of security for President Lacalle Pou “it could exceed the passport issue”, because there are suspicions of other similar organizations currently operating in the interior of the country.
