The Specialized Court for Economic Crimes set July 27 at 8 a.m. for the start of the oral trial of Wilfrido Cáceres, former chief of staff of the Asunción City Hall during the administration of Óscar “Nenecho” Rodríguez, and his wife, Ruth Jazmín Da Silva Almirón. They are accused of illicit enrichment and money laundering.
The court will be presided over by Judge Elsa García Hulskamp and composed of Judges Adriana Planas Bajac and Matías Garcete. Also on trial will be Elvira Gómez and Camila Ramírez Gómez, mother and daughter, identified by the prosecution as front men for the couple. Elvira was the family's domestic employee, and Camila was a personal assistant at Ruth Da Silva's dental clinic.
According to the Public Ministry's complaint, Cáceres's wife acquired, on July 9, 2020, during the pandemic, two undeveloped plots of land in San Lorenzo for 100 million guaranis. At the time, the Comptroller General of the Republic indicated that she had a patrimonial deficit of 235 million guaranis. After the purchase, the couple built a luxurious residence on the site and, in 2021, allegedly sold the properties to Camila Ramírez.
In Ñemby, the couple also built a high-end house and transferred it to the name of Elvira Gómez, who, according to the accusation, had no means to justify the origin of the funds. The fiscal investigation, covering the years 2018 to 2023, concluded that the total assets acquired by the accused amount to 7.764 billion guaranis, a value that, according to the Public Ministry, “was obtained with funds of illicit origin, later legitimized through concealment maneuvers.”
Among the listed assets are luxury properties, high-end vehicles, and furniture. The prosecution maintains that the transfers to third parties were simulated to hide the true origin of the money.