The Specialized Criminal Court of Appeals for Economic Crimes, Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption rejected the recusal request filed by former Minister of Public Works Arnoldo Wiens against Judge Humberto Otazú, who remains responsible for the Metrobús case. Wiens, a presidential pre-candidate for the Colorado Party (ANR), alleged through his lawyer Sergio Coscia Nogués that the magistrate's attitudes raised doubts about his impartiality.
The defense argued that the judge continued procedural acts – such as accepting the prosecution's accusation on August 13 – before resolving pending incidents, including a motion to dismiss the criminal action due to statute of limitations and a request for abbreviated deadlines. The former minister invoked Article 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which provides for recusal in cases of serious reasons affecting the judge's independence.
In response, Judge Otazú stated that his decisions respected due process, postponed the preliminary hearing until the resolution of incidents, and merely registered the accusation to make it accessible to the parties without prior analysis. The court, composed of Judges José Waldir Servín, Paublino Escobar and Camilo Torres, considered that there were insufficient objective elements to establish moral violence or partiality, classifying the appeal as merely dilatory.
Wiens faces charges of alleged breach of trust and damage to constructed works, with estimated losses of G. 14,955 million to the State. The prosecution maintains that, as minister in the government of Mario Abdo Benítez (2018–2023), he suspended the contract with company Mota-Engil and later ordered the demolition of partially constructed stations on Route PY02, after the project – initiated during the administration of Ramón Jiménez Gaona – had already been paralyzed. Jiménez Gaona was subsequently acquitted.
With Otazú's confirmation, the process moves to the preliminary hearing phase, where it will be decided whether the case proceeds to oral trial.