Judge Carlos Mendoza Peña, of the Specialized Court for the Enforcement of Sentences for Economic Crimes, Corruption, and Organized Crime No. 3, has initiated the execution of the confiscation of assets belonging to the former president of the Rural and Land Development Institute (Indert), Justo Pastor Cárdenas Nunes, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for illicit enrichment and money laundering.
Through interlocutory order No. 127, the magistrate ordered measures of seizure and prohibition of alienation and contracting on a series of assets, pending their effective registration in the name of the National Secretariat for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Senabico).
The affected assets include an apartment with a garage in the Balcones del Parque building in the San Roque district of Asunción; 60 shares of Agro Industrial Ganadera J.P.C S.A., with a total value of G. 600 million; US$ 180,700 deposited in a probate process; and a 782 m² property in the Loma Merlo area of Luque, valued at G. 250 million.
The definitive sentence that led to the confiscation, dated June 2021, found that Cárdenas could not justify expenditures amounting to G. 4,113,282,879. The initial sentence of 4 years was increased to 7 years in a second trial, following an appeal by the prosecution led by prosecutor Natalia Fuster of the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Unit (UDEA).