Former President Cartes is sanctioned for alleged corruption 4:27
(CNN Spanish) --
Prosecutors from the Public Ministry of Paraguay raided the home of former Interior Minister Arnaldo Giuzzio on Tuesday, accused of passive bribery for allegedly maintaining contacts during his administration with an alleged drug trafficker detained in Brazil.
The Public Ministry reported in a statement that prosecutors Alicia Sapriza and Osmar Legal, from the Specialized Organized Crime Unit and the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Unit, respectively, searched the home of the former official, who had previously been charged with aggravated passive bribery and against who requested "alternative measures to prison".
According to the Paraguayan Code of Criminal Procedure, charges of “aggravated passive bribery” occur when an official requests, allows himself to be promised or accepts a benefit in exchange for an act of service already performed or to be performed in the future, in an action that violates their duties.
This can be punished with a custodial sentence of up to five years.
CNN contacted former Minister Giuzzio, who described the accusation as "far-fetched."
Giuzzio told CNN that he believes the accusation against him would be aimed at "hiding and silencing accusations" that he himself had recently made against former President Horacio Cartes.
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The former Paraguayan president was designated in July by the United States Department of State as allegedly involved in "significant corruption", a qualification that the former president rejected in a video broadcast on his social networks, where he asks the US for the right to defend itself .
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In a press conference given this Tuesday after the raid on Giuzzio's house, the anti-corruption prosecutor Osmar Legal denied that there is a political background in the investigation.
Legal maintained that, according to the data that his office has, the former Minister of the Interior allegedly maintained a fluid relationship with the leader allegedly connected to a drug trafficking scheme arrested in Brazil.
Guillermo Duarte Cacavelos, Giuzzio's attorney, told CNN that Giuzzio is innocent of the charges.
Cacavelos added that his client appeared before the Prosecutor's Office on April 4 of this year to make himself available for the investigation into the Brazilian drug trafficker who allegedly tried to be a supplier of supplies to the Ministry of the Interior during Giuzzio's administration, but that from the prosecution they denied him the copy on the grounds that his client was not part of the investigation.
Duarte Cacavelos added to CNN that the accusation against Giuzzio "has no legal basis."
As explained by the Legal Prosecutor at a press conference, the request for a copy of the fiscal file by the defense of the former Minister of the Interior was in April and that "the cooperation with Brazil, where the alleged links between Giuzzio and the Brazilian, it happened in May.”
"At the time of requesting the copy, there was no open folder," Legal assured.
Legal pointed out that there are messages that the alleged drug trafficker supposedly sent him about news about an open investigation against a drug clan "and he (Giuzzio) followed the conversation."
Subsequently, Legal assured that there are also messages where there would be some investment proposals "both in Brazil and here."
"We can also confirm that repairs would have been made to mobile phones of the National Police, the Public Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior, apparently free of charge, added to the trip that Giuzzio would have made with the truck that belonged to the wife of the alleged drug trafficker, " he added.
"It can be said, incipiently, that (the alleged Brazilian drug trafficker) was waiting for a pending tender for the armoring of several vans, some 50, of the National Police, and the provision of bulletproof vests," Legal said.
The prosecutor stressed at the press conference that "letting oneself be promised" according to Paraguayan law is already an element for imputation.
In relation to the argument of the prosecution, about his links with the Brazilian citizen, Giuzzio had explained in February, before being removed from office, that he did not know that he was an alleged drug trafficker.
“I have known this man since last year, he offered us ballistic materials, vests, armored vehicles as well (...) he had even presented an exhibition of his vests, it was particular.
We invited other references from the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad), Police, we did a check of the company in Paraguay, everything seemed normal.
We welcome this company like so many other companies,” Giuzzio told the ABC newspaper in February.
Also in February, Giuzzio had acknowledged on his Twitter account that he rented an armored van from the subject in question, during his vacation in Brazil.
Giuzzio clarified in the tweet that they had contact on more than one occasion, but "always about the services of his company."
This Tuesday, Giuzzio's defense team shared with CNN documents from the rental of the vehicle used by Giuzzio on his vacation, and argued that this proves that his client did not lend the vehicle as the prosecution alleges, but that it was rented from the subject's company, which is a suspected drug dealer
The prosecution reported that several pieces of equipment and documentation were seized during the raid on Giuzzio's home.
Giuzzio was Minister of the Interior from January 2021 to February 2022.
And in addition to having held that position, he held different government positions, such as anti-corruption prosecutor, national senator and minister of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat.