City councilor Pablo Callizo (PPQ) and lawyer Maximiliano Seiferheld filed an expanded criminal complaint with the Economic Crimes Unit of the Public Ministry, detailing new methods of fuel diversion in the Road Directorate of the Asunción Municipality. The complaint alleges that the corruption scheme, known as the 'asphalt mafia,' persists even after the administrative intervention decreed by Mayor Luis Bello (ANR).
According to the complainants, although daily fuel consumption dropped from approximately 2,500 to 800 liters after the intervention, fraud continues through new tactics. The previous method, which involved loading containers outside the institution for commercialization, is said to have been replaced. Now, Road Directorate trucks leave with full tanks and fuel is extracted during routes through hoses and stored in containers for resale.
The complaint points to serious administrative failures that facilitate the scheme, such as the lack of control over vehicle mileage, which is recorded in manual spreadsheets considered easily falsifiable. The complainants expressed concern about the direction of the Public Ministry's investigation, criticizing the focus on low-level employees, such as service orders, instead of investigating the alleged leaders of the scheme: former director Nicolás Duarte, former administrator Denis Godoy, and former head of the fuel sector, Carlos Bernal.
Concrete elements presented include the loading of podium-type diesel fuel for inoperable vehicles. The complaint cites three Ford Cargo trucks (plates AABL 644, BHE 131, and BSD 874) that, according to verifications, were out of circulation, abandoned, or even auctioned more than a year ago, but continued to appear in fueling records. The fuel manager, Carlos Bernal, is said to have stated in an audio recording that one of the vehicles had been 'on jack stands' for about two years.
Pablo Callizo stated he has visual records showing irregular loading into containers inside the Road Directorate headquarters, including during the night shift. He calculated that the monthly diversion is 40,000 liters, representing a patrimonial loss of about G. 400 million per month to municipal coffers. The councilor also linked the scheme to an alleged parallel fundraising for political purposes, claiming there is an order to gather funds for Camilo Pérez's campaign in the October 4 elections.
The complainants requested that the Prosecutor's Office interrogate the intervener, Óscar Pérez, to specify the data that supported his statement about the reduction in fuel consumption, including the compared periods and the control mechanisms implemented. They warned that the delay in conducting searches and seizing mobile devices from the main suspects may have allowed the destruction of crucial evidence.