The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) was formed by Ministers Víctor Ríos, Manuel Ramírez Candia, and Gustavo Santander to analyze the constitutional challenges filed by the defendants in the Seprelad leaks case. The three are the only ones among the nine Court ministers who did not attend the secret meeting held at the Mburuvicha Róga.
The chamber's composition followed the recusals of Ministers César Diesel and Carolina Llanes, who stepped aside from the case precisely because they had attended the private meeting with President Santiago Peña at the presidential residence. As a result, Ríos and Santander, who naturally sit on the Constitutional Chamber, were appointed to the Criminal Chamber of the highest judicial tribunal.
The chamber will determine which members will sit on the Court of Appeals, which has yet to be formed due to a series of recusals, and which will be responsible for reviewing an appeal against the ruling by criminal court judge Clara Ruíz Díaz. The judge had authorized the extraction of data from one of the computers seized at the headquarters of the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Seprelad) as part of the criminal proceedings.
Defense attorneys for the suspects had requested the removal of Ministers Llanes and Diesel based on their alleged participation in the secret meeting with the President of the Republic. The majority on the Ethics Tribunal, however, spared the ministers who attended the meeting from potential sanctions.
On March 11, 2025, the Prosecutor's Office, through prosecutors Silvia González Vester of the Economic Crimes Unit and Christian Benítez Cáceres of the Emboscada Prosecutor's Office, filed charges in the case known as the leaking of secrets against the former ministers of former President Mario Abdo Benítez's administration: Carlos Arregui of Seprelad; Arnaldo Giuzzio of the Interior; and René Fernández of Anticorruption. Giuzzio is currently standing trial in an oral proceeding for a case involving alleged bribes received from a Brazilian drug trafficker.
Also charged were former officials from the Abdo Benítez era: Carmen Pereira, who was the Director General of Financial and Strategic Analysis at Seprelad; Guillermo Preda, Director of Financial Analysis "A" and later interim Director General of the same area; Francisco Pereira, former Director of Financial Analysis "B"; and Daniel Farías Kronawetter.
The defense teams for the defendants, led by attorney Enrique Kronawetter—who represents former President Mario Abdo Benítez and previously defended Daniel Farías (who died in March of this year)—challenged Attorney General Emiliano Rolón, Deputy Prosecutor Matilde Moreno, and anti-drug prosecutors César Sosa and Elva Cáceres, citing Article 57 of the Criminal Procedural Code due to a lack of objectivity. Prosecutor Osmar Segovia, who was no longer part of the team after being transferred to Paraguarí, was also challenged.
The Prosecutor's Office's charges, however, do not extend to former President Mario Abdo Benítez or Colorado lawmaker Mauricio Espínola. Although they were indicted, neither was committed to trial by criminal court judge Cynthia Lovera, as they hold privileged jurisdiction—Abdo as a lifetime senator and Espínola as a sitting congressman—and their parliamentary privilege was not revoked.