(Asuncion) Paraguayan justice has opened an investigation into Vice-President Hugo Velazquez, targeted two weeks ago by American sanctions for alleged corruption, and who in the process announced his resignation before reversing his decision.
Posted at 3:27 p.m.
“The prosecution has opened a criminal investigation into acts of corruption on the part of the vice-president of the Republic” Hugo Velazquez, announced the prosecution.
Prosecutor Liliana Alcaraz told reporters that Tuesday “a request for international judicial cooperation was made in the United States, which will be essential to move forward” in the investigation.
The announcement coincides with a visit to Paraguay by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Mark Wells, who was to have meetings with political and judicial authorities.
The investigation, added Mr.me Alcaraz, relies on a State Department report two weeks ago that announced sanctions against Hugo Velazquez for his alleged involvement in “significant acts of corruption.”
The report accused Mr. Velazquez, 54, of having, through a close associate, offered a large bribe – a million dollars according to the American embassy in Asuncion – to a high-ranking Paraguayan official to obstruct a investigation related to his financial interests.
The prosecutor, however, stressed that the prosecution has, at this stage, received “no complaint concerning alleged corruption involving the vice-president”.
In the wake of the American accusations, Mr. Velazquez, vice-president since 2018, had proclaimed his innocence and his will to defend, but assured that he would resign from the vice-presidency, so as not to harm the head of state Mario Abdo Benitez or his Colorado Party (conservative), less than a year from general elections in Paraguay.
Then he reconsidered his decision, arguing that there was no charge or procedure open against him with the Paraguayan public prosecutor.
Mr. Velazquez had initially not reacted on Wednesday to the announcement of an investigation by the prosecution.
In July, before Mr. Velazquez, the United States had announced sanctions, and the ban on entry into their territory of the former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), also from the Colorado Party, accusing him also of corruption as well as links with “foreign terrorist organisations”.