The Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice unanimously rejected the extraordinary appeal for annulment filed by the defense of former Central Department governor Hugo Javier González, known as "Número 2." With the decision, made by Justices María Carolina Llanes Ocampos and Alberto Joaquín Martínez Simón and Appellate Judge Silvana Raquel Luraghi Sarubbi, the 10-year prison sentence for aggravated breach of trust and the use of fake and cloned invoices became final.
The case, known as "ghost works," involved the embezzlement of G. 5.105 million guaraníes from emergency funds intended to combat the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021, during González's administration at the Central Department Governor's Office. The Court found that the appeals for annulment failed to meet the legal requirements for substantiation and, in some cases, were filed after the deadline, declaring them inadmissible.
In addition to Hugo Javier González, the 10-year prison sentence for Miguel Ángel Robles Ibarra, the former Chief of Staff identified as the "mastermind of the criminal scheme," also became final. Four other defendants – Javier Marcelo Rojas Giménez, Luis Eduardo Allende Araújo, Lourdes Verónica Lezcano Decoud, and Modesta Valiente Escobar – had their two-year prison sentences upheld, with the execution of the sentences suspended.
Now, a Criminal Enforcement Court must determine the effective serving of the sentences. Both González and Robles had previously served pre-trial detention and were on conditional release, awaiting the final and unappealable status of the sentence.
Following the Court's decision, the ex-governor's defense announced a new legal strategy. Lawyer Bernardo Villalba confirmed that he will file an action of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. He argues that the Public Prosecutor's Office itself, through expert reports, proved the non-existence of patrimonial damage, an essential element for the crime of breach of trust, and that four state institutions attested to the physical existence of the works. The defense is seeking the annulment of the sentence and a new oral trial.