Delia Patricia Samudio, the former president of the state-owned company Petróleos Paraguayos (Petropar) during the administration of Mario Abdo Benítez, was sent to the Emboscada Women's Penitentiary to serve a four-year prison sentence. Her husband, José Costa Perdomo, sentenced to three years and nine months, was transferred to the men's prison in Emboscada.
The decision was made by a sentencing court, which rejected a defense motion for reconsideration and granted the request of prosecutor Silvio Corbeta. The court considered the convictions to be final, despite defense claims of pending appeals before the Supreme Court of Justice.
Both were convicted of breach of trust in the case known as the "Tonic Water" scandal. The scheme, set up during the COVID-19 pandemic, diverted 359.7 million guaranis from Petropar through irregularities in a bidding process for the purchase of tonic water and other supplies. The money was used to pay off a debt of Costa Perdomo.
The Public Ministry had requested the couple's preventive detention, arguing that their legal maneuvers were merely dilatory and represented a flight risk, calling for the revocation of the alternative measures to imprisonment that were in place.