Asunción: Do you remember the then Education Minister under Fernando Lugo. Before the end of the year he was advised to buy a high-rise building in the center of Asunción as a future ministry so that the household money would not be forfeited. That was the beginning of the end.
The then education minister Luis Riart accepted the advice and bought the building without a tender and at a price that was a little too high. In the meantime a good 7 years have passed and although Riart was found guilty of this, the judgment cannot be carried out because the financial resources of one chamber of the court are insufficient to make “photocopies of the file” so that it can be passed on to the next chamber.
Aside from the fact that a Colorado minister would never have threatened prosecution for something as terse, sooner or later Riart will have to go to prison. But for this, nine volumes of files have to be handed over to the enforcement court. Part of the verdict was annulled, so a new chamber got the case. But before the files do not arrive and no one currently has any more money to copy tens of thousands of pages, things cannot go on. It is not realistic to expect that Riart will advance the money for it, as it is probably nicer outside the prison than inside.
The court upheld three years’ imprisonment in February 2020 for former Education Minister Luis Alberto Riart, who was charged with embezzlement in the purchase of the Excelsior building. The building, located at 15 de Agosto between Presidente Franco and Benjamín Constant in Asunción, belonged to María Josefina Scavone. It was valued at 12.6 billion guaranies and was acquired as an exceptional purchase by the Ministry of Education (MEC) under the administration of Luis Alberto Riart for 14.05 billion guaranies.
It should accommodate offices for around 200 people. However, the public prosecutor’s office did not determine the urgency of the purchase at the time and found contradictions, as initially the purchase was made exceptionally, but the renovation of the building was designed as a tender.
Weekly newspaper / Última Hora
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