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Ronaldinho: scandal over alleged fake documents 0:45
(CNN Spanish) - Former soccer player Ronaldinho Gaucho and his brother Roberto will testify this Friday before a criminal judge in Paraguay, the prosecutor who investigates them on suspicion of entering the country with false documents announced on Thursday.
According to prosecutor Federico Delfino, the football exastro - whose real name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira - and his brother, achieved a procedural exit and will not be charged "attending to these people were surprised at his good was to have apocryphal Paraguayan documents of false content and with the data that they contributed to the investigation, very useful to disrupt this criminal gang dedicated to the production of documents of false content, is that we request this exit ”.
Ronaldinho and his brother testified before the Public Ministry for more than 8 hours. His defense lawyer, Adolfo Marín, later spoke with the media and said that his client reported that he did not request the Paraguayan documents and that he did not intend to use them either. According to the lawyer, Ronaldinho did not personally carry out the entry procedures to the country in Migrations of the airport, but was received in one of the meeting offices, while another person made the immigration procedures, using the Paraguayan documents that turned out to be false.
Ronaldinho is held and investigated in Paraguay 0:43According to the defense account, the Brazilian and Paraguayan documents were in a handbag of the former soccer star and his brother.
Delfino said that none knew that the manager had used the Paraguayan documents that turned out to be false, and not the Brazilian documents.
The lawyer explained that both the ID cards and passports do not have the signatures of Ronaldinho, or his brother, as well as their fingerprints. The lawyer also stressed that his client has no legal problems to leave and enter his country, discarding the version that they would have acquired the Paraguayan documents due to problems with the Brazilian justice.
Marín explained that the businessman Wilmondes Sousa Lira handed the Paraguayan documents to Ronaldinho and his brother a few days ago in Brazil as a kind of “gift”. The lawyer of the former soccer player ruled out that there is any previous link between one of the accused and his defendant. "Sousa Lira contacts Ronaldinho's brother, Roberto, who is his manager, to come to Paraguay to carry out several activities, including the launch of a book and a presentation at a foundation."
Sousa Lira refrained from giving an investigative statement, but her lawyer, Marcos Estigarribia, said she will do it this Friday. “He is surprised at what happened. He doesn't know what happened, but let's clarify that. He refrained from declaring and we will make known to the press what happened after he testified, ”said Sousa Lira's defense.
The Prosecutor's Office informed that there are three detainees in the case. One of them is the businessman Sousa Lira, charged Thursday by criminal association, use of documents of false content and mediated production of public document of false content. María Isabel Gayoso and Esperanza Apolonia Caballero were also charged, who would be the holders of the passports seized from Ronaldinho and her brother Roberto, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
Neither CNN nor the local media gained access to these people or their lawyers, with the exception of one of the women, María Isabel Gayoso, who told the Telefuturo television channel that he is innocent, that he is a humble person and that he does not know the former soccer player .
Delfino said that more people, both public and private officials, are being investigated and that there is an arrest warrant against a migration agent.
This case cost the Director of Migration, Alexis Penayo, who on Thursday presented his resignation. Penayo explained at a press conference that the immigration officer in charge at that time told him that he informed about the false document, “but he also let the player into the country, because he was overcome by the fame of Ronaldinho and the crowd that was waiting for him in the airport".
Using or carrying a false passport is illegal, even if you have Brazilian documents. In this case, he is punishable by law with a fine or up to three years in prison, according to the Paraguayan Penal Code.
Ronaldinho