The former mayor of Lambaré, Roberto Cárdenas (ANR-HC), sentenced to eight years in prison for misappropriation of public funds, will have to appear at a preliminary hearing on June 29, convened by Judge Rosarito Montanía, as part of an investigation into an alleged corruption scheme at the National Plant and Seed Quality and Health Service (Senave).
The hearing involves Pastor Emilio Soria Melo, former director of Senave, and seven other defendants, including Cárdenas himself. They are under investigation for aggravated passive bribery for allegedly demanding kickbacks in exchange for the granting of Import Phytosanitary Accreditations (Afidi).
As a result of this case, enforcement judge María Lidia Wyder last week denied Cárdenas's request to be transferred from the National Pre-Trial Detention Center (former Tacumbú) to the Industrial Esperanza Penitentiary. The former mayor had argued that the former Tacumbú was not equipped to house convicted inmates and had requested a facility deemed more suitable.
Judge Wyder rejected the argument, pointing out that Cárdenas still holds the status of a pretrial detainee in the aggravated passive bribery case and that the transfer of inmates between prison facilities falls under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, with no jurisdiction for the court to rule on the matter in this instance.
Cárdenas was sentenced on December 23, 2021, by the Specialized Economic Crimes Court to eight years in prison for misappropriation of public funds and hazardous construction activities, after causing a financial loss of G. 859,155,192 to the resources of the National Public Investment and Development Fund (Fonacide) during his tenure between November 2012 and December 2013. The former municipal director of Administration and Finance, Guido Fernando Salcedo, was also sentenced to six years in prison as the principal offender for misappropriation of public funds and as an accomplice in the same case.
Prosecutor Yeimy Adle charged Soria Melo in July 2025, along with former employees Miguel Ángel Báez Soria and Martín Luis María Lezcano Villalba, as well as civil servants Herminio David Batte Martínez, Juan José Lezcano Del Puerto, and Sergio Marcos Rodríguez Escobar. Also charged in the same case were Cárdenas, Víctor Manuel Leiva Cardozo, Ramona Ysabel Arce Ramírez, Plinio Alcibiades Gamarra Morel, and Eladio Figueredo, all of whom had no ties to the public institution.