Paraguay’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested an oral trial for four people accused of taking part in proceedings based on seven promissory notes—negotiable instruments—that allegedly advanced with a false judicial notice. Those accused include former Justice of the Peace Carmen Analía Cibils, court clerk Ricardo Ramón Cuevas, former process server Audrey Jazmín Galeano Mora and lawyer Thalia Desiree Benítez Faría.
The investigation concerns preparatory enforcement proceedings filed in April 2024 by PH Sociedad Anónima against Andrea Lorena Balbuena at the La Encarnación Justice of the Peace Court. The woman’s address was listed as 132 General José de San Martín Street in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
According to the indictment, on May 17, 2024, Cibils ordered Balbuena to appear within three days to acknowledge or deny the signatures on the documents. Failure to appear would allow the signatures to be deemed acknowledged. Galeano recorded that she had traveled to Argentina in June of that year to serve the notice and that the procedure had been received by a colleague of the intended recipient.
Records and expert examinations cited by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, however, indicated that Galeano was working at the La Encarnación Justice of the Peace Court in Asunción during the period in question, and that there was no record of her leaving Paraguayan territory. The indictment also maintains that a process server could not directly serve a judicial notice abroad; in such cases, a judicial letter rogatory, a formal mechanism of cooperation between courts, would have been required.
Despite the inconsistencies, the procedure was deemed to have been carried out “in legal form.” On October 28, 2024, Cibils declared the signatures acknowledged, allowing enforcement of the promissory notes to continue and measures to be taken against the defendant’s assets. According to the indictment, she had no effective opportunity to defend herself.
Prosecutors Belinda Bobadilla, Jorge Arce and Leonardi Guerrero accused Cibils of malfeasance and use of public documents containing false information. Cuevas faces charges of producing and using those documents; Galeano faces charges of malfeasance and producing false documents; and Benítez Faría, PH Sociedad Anónima’s representative, faces alleged charges of inciting malfeasance and using the documents.
The indictment closes the preparatory stage and has been referred to the Criminal Court of Guarantees. A preliminary hearing will still be held to decide which evidence will be admitted and whether the case will actually be sent to a trial court. The indictment describes allegations by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, not a final conviction.