RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Minister Giuzzio said that the complaint is some 30 pages long and that he decided not to submit it to the Prosecutor’s Office in order to expedite the investigation, given that the SEPRELAD has the “financial intelligence” to conduct the inquiries both locally and internationally.
According to the Minister, the investigation showed that Cartes’ wealth grew “disproportionately” between 2013 and 2018, a period that coincides with his presidential term.
“A sum of approximately US$300 million dollars was found”, he said, and added that there is talk of false testimony since the ex-president made several rectifications to his sworn statements.
He also said that a number of companies related to Cartes, such as Tabacalera del Este (Tabesa), are under international investigation.
SEPRELAD head Carlos Arregui stated that Giuzzio “is asking for a number of things that are related to international bodies. SEPRELAD is in charge of that.”
SEPRELAD will henceforth be responsible for making inquiries with peer agencies in other countries.
Asked about the reason why Giuzzio may have filed the complaint with SEPRELAD and not with the Prosecutor’s Office headed by Sandra Quiñonez since Cartes’ term in office, Arregui mentioned the speed of results.
“We are part of a secure international network. There are diligences that must be exhausted, we work with the Prosecutor’s Office. We have a previous results record faster than the prosecutors’,” he said.
“We are authorized to make a series of requests, particularly in the international context. We work with secure couriers and an international network. There is information gathered (about Cartes) from other similar units in other countries,” the head of SEPRELAD said.
Regarding a potential cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office, he said that once the appropriate proceedings have been conducted, it will analyze if they should be forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“The prosecutors have used SEPRELAD’s intelligence reports. We will conduct several diligences within our jurisdiction, then we will see if we will forward them to the Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.