Councilor Álvaro Grau, of the Beloved Homeland Party (PPQ), denounced a series of irregularities in the municipal administration of Assunción, led by Mayor Luis Bello of the Colorado Party (ANR), accusing it of repeating practices from the previous administration of Óscar "Nenecho" Rodríguez. Grau stated that the city remains dirty, despite multi-million contracts involving the purchase and rental of garbage collection trucks.
The councilor specifically questioned the direct award for the purchase of 11 garbage collection trucks, for a total value that, when added to the rentals, would reach G. 109 billion. According to Grau, the technical specifications of the tender, such as the requirement for a specific brake system and a capacity of 17 cubic meters outside the dumpster, would have limited participation to only two companies, characterizing a rigged bid.
Furthermore, Grau pointed out that the city hall expanded a truck rental contract by G. 6 billion and that the Risk Management Directorate is proposing a new contract for G. 3.5 billion, justified by the arrival of the El Niño phenomenon. The councilor suspects that the real motivation, two months before the municipal elections, is to hire personnel for the political campaign. "They are ghost trucks, because the city has always been dirty. That's when you realize the deals behind it," he declared.
In parallel, Grau criticized the slowness of the Public Prosecutor's Office in investigating the destination of G. 500 billion used during the administration of Nenecho Rodríguez, which he classified as the largest embezzlement of funds in the city's history, and demanded speed in the case.
Meanwhile, judicial actions related to the corruption scandal known as "golden detergent," which occurred during that same previous administration, are advancing. Édgar Fabián Estigarribia Gavilán, former general director of Disaster Management and Risk Reduction, was sentenced to two years in prison but will not go to jail after accepting an abbreviated procedure. He must repay G. 135 million to the Municipality, with G. 100 million paid upfront and the rest in installments, in addition to donating G. 15 million to an elderly care home.
The case, which caused a patrimonial loss of G. 1.808 billion to the municipality through the overpriced purchase of cleaning items – including a French detergent priced at nearly G. 400,000 per liter – still involves other accused individuals. The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice recently unblocked the action against former mayor Nenecho Rodríguez and former councilor César Ojeda Figueredo, whose preliminary hearing is still pending. Meanwhile, Wilfrido Cáceres, identified as Nenecho's right-hand man, has had his case elevated to an oral trial for breach of trust.