The Operation “A Ultranza Py” revealed that deputy Erico Galeano (Chartist ANR), has 12 bank accounts that were not declared before the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) as required by law when he assumed his mandate as legislator in 2018.
These are Suspicious Operations Reports (STRs), sent by the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Seprelad) to the Public Ministry.
According to the documents, Galeano bought a property in the Acqua Village complex, in the city of Altos (Cordillera) in 2013 for US$211,000 (G. 1,500 million at current exchange rates), and sold it in 2020 for US$ $1 million to Hugo González, involved in the aforementioned operation.
This set off Seprelad’s alarms, since part of the transaction was made in cash (G. 450 thousand equivalent to G. 3.2 billion at the current exchange rate) with bundles of money belonging to Fe Cambios, a foreign exchange house investigated by another operation called “Patrón” (Paraguayan nexus of the Lava Jato case).
Another operation that set off alarms was the transfer of Erico to Horacio Cartes, former President of the Republic for US$2.5 million (G. 17,500 million). Due to these suspicious operations, there are rumors in the Upper House that the loss of investiture against the aforementioned legislator would occur.
GALEANO
Erico Galeano arrived three hours after the ordinary session of the Chamber of Deputies began on Wednesday. In communication with the press, he affirmed that the transfer to Cartes consisted of a legal operation through the financial system.
“That amount is not going to appear out of nowhere. Do you (for the communicators) believe that Seprelad will let an amount of this nature pass through?”, questioned the legislator.
He announced that at another time he will explain in detail, but he announced that he had a debt with the former president.
“I will give my official version at the time. Cartes gave me money through the financial system. It was a debt I owed him,” she replied.
Regarding his affidavits, he announced that they are involuntary omissions. He stressed that the law allows him to make the rectifications. “Why am I going to ask for my immunity? There is no criminal case. Did I screw the State with these omissions? Did I benefit from money with these omissions? The law says that if something is omitted in the DDJJ it is not a crime. From the moment that I can rectify it, it ceases to be a crime”, he argued.
When asked about his links with Sebastián Marset, the Uruguayan businessman who is the leader of the criminal group that was disrupted after Operation “A Ultranza Py”, he indicated that “he does not want to talk about it” and withdrew.
ALLIANA
Pedro Alliana, president of the Chamber of Deputies, gave some statements on the point before the start of the Ordinary Session of the Chamber of Deputies.
He affirmed that he will study the loss of investiture against Galeano if he comes to present himself before the plenary session.
“He deserves the right to defense. We are going to study in bench, nothing has been presented yet. We still couldn’t talk. It would be important if you could clarify. It says that it is a debt through the bank,” he pointed out.
He stressed that Cartes is a shareholder in a bank so he can justify a loan of more than US$2 million.
“Banco Atlas moved money from ‘FifaGate’, from people linked to the ‘A Ultranza’ operation. It is a debt that Galeano took out through the bank, ”he said.
COMPTROLLER
Armindo Torres, General Director of Sworn Declarations of the Comptroller’s Office, affirmed that they are already verifying the veracity of Erico Galeano’s DDJJ. This during an interview for 730 AM.
“We are now requesting reports from all institutions. Know if what is stated in their DDJJ is true. We started this as a result of the publications. Comptroller started it ex officio, ”he said.
In the afternoon, the Public Ministry decided to appoint Juan Ledesma as the prosecutor who will investigate Erico Galeano, National Deputy, and Joaquín Roa, former Minister of the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN).
