Ñemby Mayor Tomás Olmedo (ANR-FR) and five other municipal employees had their preliminary hearing suspended this Monday, due to a pending decision in the Court of Appeals. The session, which was to take place at 8 a.m. before Economic Crimes Judge Rodrigo Estigarribia, would determine whether the accused would face a public oral trial for the alleged embezzlement of over Gs. 700 million from municipal coffers.
Olmedo and the employees Marcos Isaías Meza Ortiz, Enrique Hugo Delvalle García, Daniel David Sánchez Arza, and Flavio Javier Duarte Vallovera were charged by prosecutor Jessica Verocay with fraud and breach of trust. In the same case, Arnaldo Gauna Martínez is charged only with fraud.
The mayor is seeking reelection, now affiliated with Fuerza Republicana, after failing to gain support from the Cartista faction. In 2023, he had already escaped a municipal intervention request, and on October 7, 2024, a new request was filed, also based on the alleged embezzlement. So far, the so-called “pact of impunity” between liberals and Colorados in the Chamber of Deputies keeps the request frozen, along with those of five other questioned mayors.
Faced with the lack of response in the Legislature, the councilors took the complaint to the Public Ministry, which has already formalized the charge of breach of trust.