The Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraguay has filed formal charges and requested the opening of an oral trial against Alexandre Rodrigues Gomes, son of the late former congressman Eulalio "Lalo" Gomes; his former lawyer, Oscar Tuma; and notaries Blanca Rossana Ozuna Leguizamón and María Luisa Verón de Jara. Prosecutors José Martín Morínigo, Francisco Cabrera, and Diana Gómez, from the Specialized Unit Against Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime, argue that the accused were part of a scheme to thwart the potential confiscation of assets in the "Pavo Real" case.
According to the charges, Alexandre Rodrigues Gomes facilitated the transfer of four properties in Pedro Juan Caballero and eight vehicles, despite being aware of a court injunction issued by Judge Osmar Legal on August 19, 2024, which prohibited the sale or transfer of these assets. The investigation alleges that to achieve this, the data for his properties was tampered with in the system of the now-defunct General Directorate of Public Registries, making the record of the precautionary measure "disappear."
Lawyer Oscar Tuma is accused of money laundering for having received four of these properties as payment for his professional fees, allegedly with knowledge of the court prohibition. In his defense, Tuma rejected the charges, arguing that there is no prior conviction proving the illicit origin of the assets, an essential condition for the crime of money laundering. "I am a lawyer, I am not a regulated entity, and I have no reason to ask my client where the properties come from," he stated, calling the case a legal error and political persecution.
Notaries Blanca Rossana Ozuna and María Luisa Verón are accused of producing and using public documents with false content. Ozuna is linked to the preparation of a general power of attorney granted by Faustino Aguayo, who was convicted for drug trafficking, and to the formalization of deeds in the name of a deceased person. Verón allegedly certified that Alexandre Rodrigues Gomes appeared in person at her notary office in Areguá to sell vehicles, when he was supposedly imprisoned at the National Penitentiary in Encarnación.
The prosecutors also requested the provisional dismissal of the case against notary María Raquel Cáceres Olmedo and against former Public Registry employee Alcira Celeste Rodrigues Flores, the latter considered a key figure in the alleged data tampering in the system. The case now awaits the scheduling of a preliminary hearing to decide on proceeding with the oral trial.