Prosecutors Osmar Legal and Alicia Sapriza charged Arnaldo Giuzzio, former Minister of the Interior, with aggravated passive bribery and requested alternative measures to prison. Sapriza is part of the Specialized Unit for Organized and Legal Crime of the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes and Anticorruption. Before the accusation, the home of the former Secretary of State was searched.
Giuzzio was Minister of the Interior, from January 22, 2021 to February 22, 2022 and among the administrative components he was in charge of being an expense organizer, issuing authorizations for the call for tenders, and the awarding of suppliers, services and in consequently sign contracts. From July 2021 to February 2022, Arnaldo Giuzzio, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, maintained communications with Marcus Vinicius Espindola Marques, who directed and managed the companies Black Eagle Group SA and Ombú SA with various commercial activities, including rental and armoring of vehicles.
The businessman’s intention was to be a supplier to the State, through the Ministry of the Interior and his friendly relationship with the then holder of the portfolio. Marcus Vinicius Espindola M. is currently detained in Brazil for drug trafficking. In this link that would have been established, Giuzzio, in exercise of his functions as Minister of the Interior, accepted vehicle armoring services for the National Police, supposedly as a courtesy by Vinicius Espindola. Likewise, he would have accepted the loan, free of charge, of a vehicle for his personal and family use. On the other hand, between those mentioned there would have been several personal meetings in the offices of the commercial firms of Marcus Vinicius Espindola. He would also have been invited to the shooting range of the Special Police Operational Forces, having links with drug trafficking and other encounters would have taken place.
In addition, via WhatsApp, in October 2021 Marcus Vinicius sends him a link about a journalistic news item, about a procedure in Brazilian territory on the Lava Jato case, of a raid on the home of Antonio Joaquin Da Mota. Where the Minister of the Interior thanks him and says “I’m talking to you.”
On another occasion, he would have purchased armor services for a vehicle destined for a security operation, where they were also supposedly given as a “courtesy”, through which he had access to the security mechanisms. In addition, Arnaldo Giuzzio was aware of Vinicius Espindola’s intentions to be awarded as a supplier to the State.
After other services provided to the institution, different items can be inferred from those destined for the maintenance, armor and repair of vehicles. Given this, the Public Ministry questions that there should be a call for public bidding that has not occurred and consequently Giuzzio proceeded against his legitimate functions.
MASI
After the meeting of the board of directors of the Chamber of Senators, Desirée Masi, a national senator for the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), questioned whether the Public Ministry acts very quickly in some cases and not in others. “I imagine that they are going to raid the Cartes and Tabesa quincho where there are complaints and four open cases. What are they waiting for? that Cartes brings the causes closer?
The legislator affirmed that the raid on Giuzzio’s house has to do with the complaints that Giuzzio made against Cartes at the time. Last February, Giuzzio, while still Minister of the Interior, accused Cartes of trafficking cigarettes during a session of the Permanent Commission of Congress. “I don’t handle Giuzzio’s case well, I clarify, but I hope they are going to search my house just now because every Thursday I file complaints against them (against the prosecutors). The Prosecutor’s Office of the total mafia. If they believe that they are going to silence us with this type of thing, we are reaching unsuspected limits, ”he said.
Masi affirmed that he has been denouncing for a long time that the Prosecutor’s Office is lying and that he expects anything from his actions. “There are no raids in the cases of Cartes and Velázquez, where is the raid? In addition to what the United States says, Cartes has complaints in Paraguay. They themselves said that they have four cases open against Cartes. What proceedings did they take against Galeano? nor did they ask for a deprivation of immunity. I haven’t talked to Giuzzio for a long time”, he commented.
He finally stressed that Giuzzio is not in absentia to justify the raid. “This apparatus shows that it is a persecution. Efraín Alegre was imprisoned in the Tacumbú prison for three to four bills. We ask that they act with everyone, it seems to me that the selectivity is very evident, ”he concluded.
