(NORBERTO DUARTE / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) -
The president of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party of Paraguay (PLRA), Efraín Alegre, woke up this Friday deprived of his freedom after surrendering to Justice on Thursday, thus complying with a preventive detention order ordered by a judge for alleged falsifications of expenses in the 2018 elections, where Alegre was a candidate for president of the country.
According to the document of the Judicial Power, the leader of the largest opposition party is accused of the alleged "production of non-authentic documents, mediate production of a public document with false content and use of a public document with false content as an author."
In June 2020, the Public Ministry based the accusation against Efraín Alegre on the basis of an alleged false invoice.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, Alegre presented an invoice for almost 14,100 dollars (98 million guaraníes) in his report on the cost of the general elections before the Superior Court of Electoral Justice.
According to the initial accusation, this document "would be cloned, with false content, and its objective was to request the payment of the electoral subsidy and, with it, obtain an undue financial benefit."
The alleged fact came to light with the complaint of the owner of a gas station, who pointed out that his company was listed as a fuel supplier to the political party for almost $ 14,100, although in reality it would have been for about $ 14, according to the Public Ministry.
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Efraín Alegre's lawyer says they "planted" false invoices
Alegre's attorney, Guillermo Duarte Cacavelos, told CNN that his client is innocent.
"By legal prohibition, Alegre could not touch those bills or present or touch the money, he was not the person in charge of that," said the lawyer.
He also indicated that there is a division within the party and that these dissidents "planted" false invoices.
For the case, there are two other defendants, who were the campaign administrators of the area.
The lawyer said that he spoke with Alegre and that they are discussing whether to appeal the measure or ask for the revision of the prison order next week.
In a statement shared on his social networks this Thursday, Efraín Alegre said that the case is "mounted" and that he would be presented to the place of detention provided by the authorities because he has "nothing to hide."
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In a joint statement, opposition parties, including the PLRA, expressed their "absolute rejection" of the order of preventive detention against Alegre and considered that his detention is illegal.
"He was at all times subjected to the process, despite his total probative orphanhood," said the Table of Presidents of Political Parties of the Opposition.
This Friday, in statements to Radio 1000, the judge in charge of the case, Cynthia Lovera, defended her decision.
He pointed out that Alegre was given enough time to comply with alternative measures to preventive detention and since he did not do so, "it is in law to dictate what was dictated," he said.
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Alegre will be held at the Agrupación Especializada detention center in Asunción.
Several of his followers mobilized there on Thursday night to express their support.
