The Paraguayan Prosecutor's Office filed formal charges against former Minister of Public Works and Communications Arnoldo Wiens, currently a pre-candidate for president from a Colorado Party (ANR) dissident faction. Prosecutors Nathalia Silva, Yeimy Adle, and Giovanni Grisetti requested the case go to oral trial for alleged breach of trust and damage to works built under the failed Metrobús project.
According to the charges, Wiens caused a patrimonial loss of G. 14.955 million to the Paraguayan state by deciding to suspend the works in October 2018 and later ordering the demolition of partially built stations in April 2020. The prosecution alleges the project, financed with loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), was 40% complete when Wiens assumed the ministry in August 2018, with funding still valid and municipal authorizations pending only formalization.
Wiens publicly defended his decisions, stating he inherited "an unviable project" and acted to prevent greater losses. He cited an arbitration ruling that allegedly endorsed the legitimacy of terminating the contract with company Mota Engil and executing the insurance policies. In interviews, the former minister classified the case as political persecution with "electoral connotations," accusing President Santiago Peña and Vice President Pedro Alliana of instrumentalizing the justice system to harm his candidacy.
Wiens' defense, led by lawyers Alfredo Enrique Kronawetter and Federico Huttemann, challenged the prosecutors' confirmation in the case and alleges the criminal action is extinguished by statute of limitations, arguing the investigated events occurred more than five years ago. They also contest Wiens' inclusion in the charges for damage to built works, claiming the first-instance court had only admitted the breach of trust accusation.
Political allies of Wiens, such as Senators Blanca Ovelar, Colym Soroka, and Mario Varela, strongly criticized the Prosecutor's Office's actions, calling them "shameful," "aberrant," and "biased." They highlighted the contrast with the dismissal of the case against former minister Ramón Jiménez Gaona, who preceded Wiens in the ministry and under whose management the project began.
Opposition Senator Rafael Filizzola, of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), warned that using judicial processes to eliminate political candidates, both from the opposition and internal dissidents, represents "a very dangerous path" for Paraguayan democracy, comparing the situation with the first steps of authoritarian drift in Venezuela.