Senator Ever Villalba of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) filed a formal complaint on the floor of the Senate against the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), led by Claudia Centurión. According to the lawmaker, 13 public tenders conducted by the ministry between 2024 and 2025 were overpriced by more than 157 million dollars.
Villalba stated that the final contract awards exceeded the reference prices set by the ministry itself by margins ranging from 50% to 80%. He questioned whether the MOPC's technical team was incompetent in preparing the base budgets or if there was an "illicit association for criminal purposes."
The amount, equivalent to nearly one billion guaranis (G. 943.611 million), was presented by the senator as a waste of public resources. He argued that with this sum, it would be possible to cover 72% of the 2025 fiscal deficit, finance 67% of the planned budget increase for strategic sectors in 2026, or even double the budget for cancer drugs at the National Cancer Institute (INCAN).
Furthermore, the senator denounced that the MOPC had arbitrarily excluded bidding companies that submitted proposals close to the reference price, in order to award the contracts to consortiums with significantly higher values.
Villalba had previously filed a criminal complaint against Minister Centurión related to alleged responsibility for fatalities on Route PY08. In light of the new accusations, he asked the Senate to summon the minister to provide explanations before taking the case to criminal courts. The lawmaker also criticized what he called the "double standard" of the Public Prosecutor's Office, citing the case of former mayor Miguel Prieto, who, according to him, was prosecuted based on less substantial evidence.