On Wednesday morning, Fausto Portillo, defense attorney for Hugo Javier González, governor of Central, asked Judge Ana María Cañete that his client serve his house arrest in the same seat of the governor’s office.
Only a day before, the same judge had rejected his request for permission to go to her office to fulfill his obligations.
Councilors questioned the request because there is no bedroom in the governorate, only a kitchen.
In the end, the defense of the governor of Central Hugo Javier González withdrew from the request made before the Judge of Economic Crimes María Elena Cañete, before the questions.
AERIE
The Governor of Central, with permission because he is under house arrest, informed the Municipal Board that he will be absent from Friday the 18th to May 5 at the Government of Central.
As the law establishes that an absence of more than three days, the governor must do so in writing. While his absence lasts, he will be represented by the president of the Board, who is Mario Aguilera, a liberal councilor.
In this way, from Wednesday, April 20 to Thursday, May 5, Mario Aguilera, head of the departmental Board, will be in charge of the administration under the figure of office manager.
Aguilera expressed that, in the current situation of Hugo Javier González, he cannot continue in office after May 5.
“He has a house arrest that prevents him from coming here to the department headquarters. The subsequent action that would be taken is to see if he requests permission or another circumstance that will be analyzed by the plenary session of the departmental Board, ”he said.
As for how the elections would be held to replace González, he pointed out that the first thing would be to wait until May 5, since the law establishes that an absence of more than 15 days will require the permission of the Board.
“We do not know the actions of the Executive. There are two options, you can ask the Board for permission, which you can accept or reject. If he approves, the Chairman of the Board remains as interim, but if he rejects, Hugo Javier should resign. There the Board will have to choose the replacement among its 21 members”, he commented.
CONTEXT
In November, Rodrigo Estigarribia, prosecutor of the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office, charged González and 14 other people with the alleged embezzlement of G. 5,105 million that the government should allocate to mitigate the pandemic.
The hearing for the imposition of measures took place last Tuesday, April 12. The judge in the case ordered the governor’s house arrest. Since then he has been confined in a house located in the gated community of Costa Lago in the city of Ypacaraí.