The results of the index presented by AS/COA and Control Risks place Paraguay in the worst position in terms of capacity to combat corruption. The politicization of the judicial systems and their lack of independence constitute the reasons that postpone us in this matter.
Listing Paraguay as a central distribution point for cocaine in South America, not to mention facilities for money laundering and drug trafficking, the fourth edition of the AS/COA and Control Risks Index ranks Paraguay 11th out of 15 in terms of capacities to detect, sanction and prevent corruption. The country is only above Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Venezuela.
“There is a ‘good’ grade in legislation, because there are some regulations that are sanctioned, but that is not enough to improve the image of a state that truly fights against corruption because one of our social problems is respect for the law” , highlighted Dr. José Casañas Levi, criminal lawyer.
The expert observed that acts of corruption, conduct that violates rights, are experienced daily, from which it is difficult to get out because there is a lack of sanction measures in practice because some type of concrete alternative is not taken in the different institutions.
With respect to the conclusion mentioned in the study on the alleged investigation against former president Horacio Cartes, which never ends, the criminalist pointed out that the investigative impact is not observed because no measures are ever carried out on the acts in question.
“Just like that, there is a large number of acts of corruption about which there is no information and these data are what give people that there is legal certainty, but the silence that prevails in its place has been a constant for decades. In Paraguay
For Dr. Casañas Levi, they were quite generous with Paraguay in the report because the position is very high for the reality that Paraguay lives. By this he refers to a section that speaks relatively well of the judicial system, when its quality is really poor and access to justice is restricted.
“Once the impossibility of access to justice exists, the corruption systems begin to function in terms of requests, bribes, bribery transactions, etc. In addition, the quality of service within a process is very low; justice operators do not have an installed capacity from the point of view of human talent”, he highlighted.
The penalist ruled that at some point Paraguay should stop looking at lists and reports, to sit down and design a plan on how to achieve a better level as a serious and acceptable country because the diagnosis has already existed for 40 years. He affirmed that as long as this is not done, the reports that people have become anecdotes because they are talked about for a while, but on the side of the authorities no response is seen.
LACK OF INDEPENDENCE
“Corruption is something new or something that is not analyzed. As for justice, for a long time we have had the problem of internal corruption of the justice system in general because it is not uncommon to see magistrates and prosecutors who get rich in their passage through justice and then dedicate themselves to politics,” he stressed. Dr. Jorge Rolón Luna as an important factor when analyzing the structural impunity of Paraguayan justice.
He ruled that these aspects are often linked to the lack of independence of the justice system, together with the selection mechanisms for judges, prosecutors and public defenders, which add to the serious problems in effectively combating corruption. However, he explained that the crisis of the judicial system goes further because if it does not work, it leaves citizens totally defenseless.
“Our country’s justice system has a long tradition of not touching the powerful. The Cartes case is part of that long tradition of justice, but added to this is the fact that the former president has a media network, a lot of money, political influence, politicians who are loyal to Congress, the Council of the Magistracy, etc., and if that one places versus the little independence, we cannot expect anything else”, he sentenced.
Finally, he stated that the country is at a very important turning point because, in addition to the shortcomings mentioned, organized crime and hired killers are experiencing sustained growth. He pointed out that this is not being taken with the seriousness it deserves and that we are at a crossroads where the population must decide between continuing in a society consumed by organized crimes and illegalities or those proposals that call us to leave this place .
MOST RENOWNED CASES OF CORRUPTION
Pattern Operation
It constitutes the suspicions of his involvement with the Brazilian money changer Dario Messer. The investigation stems from Lava Jato and the process initiated in Brazil against Cartes is in reference to the US$500,000 that Messer would have received from the former Paraguayan president while he was a fugitive from national justice and from the neighboring country.
Pandora Papers
It is the leak of more than 11.9 million confidential documents and exposes the secret fortunes of politicians, businessmen, artists and elite athletes. Among the 35 former presidents found in the archives, is Horacio Cartes. The data indicates that during his time as president, Cartes and his family were linked to offshore companies that included assets worth more than US$1 million.
Manipulation of the financial system
The former Minister of the Interior, Arnaldo Giuzzio, denounced Horacio Cartes as being responsible for manipulating the financial system to the detriment of the Paraguayan economy through cigarette smuggling and money laundering. The formal complaint is for money laundering, illicit enrichment and false statement to Seprelad, but as a common citizen and not as a government authority.
Seprelad Report
In an extensive list of operations that Seprelad found in the movements of Tabesa, belonging to Cartes, it is stated that Sarah Cartes, her sister and main shareholder of Banco Basa, would have made purchases of the tobacco company for US$4.7 million between 2017 and 2021. Another linked company is Metasa, a company linked to deputy Erico Galeano as a shareholder, along with Rubens Catenacci, convicted of money laundering in Brazil.
Ibáñez’s “golden landlords”
A journalistic investigation uncovered that legislator José María Ibáñez listed as congressional officials three men who worked in his country house in the city of Areguá.
Gonzalez Daher case
Both Óscar and Ramón were accused of usury, money laundering and false accusation, apart from putting together a large scheme of contacts with magistrates of all instances and jurisdictions within the Judicial Power, who were constituted as accomplices and were part of the system of tightening and payment of the brothers.
The metrobus case
It was never thoroughly investigated and to this day there is no one responsible for all the commercial and social damage caused during construction.
