A sentencing court unanimously acquitted on Thursday the former head of Paraguay's Financial Intelligence Unit, the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Seprelad), Óscar Boidanich. He had been accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of obstructing justice by allegedly deliberately delaying the submission of a financial intelligence report on Brazilian currency exchanger Darío Messer, a central figure in the Lava Jato case and considered close to former president Horacio Cartes.
The panel, composed of judges Darío Báez, Gloria Hermosa, and Natalia Cacavelos, found that the crime of obstruction of justice was not substantiated. In their reasoning, the magistrates emphasized that, as a result-based crime, the prosecution needed to prove that Boidanich's conduct concretely impeded the action of the justice system. The court concluded this did not happen, as Messer was effectively charged and his assets were seized in 2024.
During the trial, the Public Prosecutor's Office, represented by agent Francisco Cabrera, had requested a prison sentence of two years and six months. The defense, led by attorney Claudio Lovera, maintained the former official's innocence, arguing that there was no punishable act and that Boidanich never gave orders to delay the report.
In his final words before the deliberation, Boidanich denied any ill intent. "There was never any ill intent on my part nor any intention to cause delay. I ask for justice," he declared to the court.
After the sentence was read, Judge Darío Báez criticized the performance of the Public Prosecutor's Office. "With this decision, we are making it clear that the work of the Prosecutor's Office was not well done, it was not correct," he stated. He detailed that the report on Messer followed Seprelad's normal internal process, including legal analysis, and that Boidanich was on leave due to health problems for part of the period. Upon his return in April 2018, the former head immediately signed and sent the document.
Defense attorney Claudio Lovera celebrated the decision but noted that the case is not yet final, as the Public Prosecutor's Office can appeal. "The trial served to objectively clarify the circumstances," he said, adding that the prosecution's hypothesis was "very abstract" and did not hold up against the evidence presented.
Boidanich, for his part, said the eight-year legal process severely affected his personal and professional life and attributed the charges to a "media shooting gallery" from press sectors opposed to Horacio Cartes' government.