MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay is a haven for international crime, Congressional report finds

Querey underlined that 60% of the low-caliber weapons that illegally enter Brazil pass through Paraguay, as do 90% of the large-caliber ones

According to a report from Paraguay's Congressional Bicameral Investigative Committee (CBI) released Tuesday, the country has become “a logistic corridor for international crime,” CBI Chairman Senator Jorge Querey told reporters in Asunción.

The lawmaker, who gained international notoriety for being former President and fellow Senator Fernando Lugo's personal physician, also said the Committee would file a proposal for the CBI document to be sent to international organizations and made available to the public.

Querey also highlighted cases of cigarette trafficking, which are mainly linked to tobacco companies of the former president of the Republic Horacio Cartes, some of which were carried by the Venezuelan-Iranian freighter aircraft still grounded at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza international airport although all crewmembers were acquitted of any wrongdoing.

“There is a mechanism that is operating for criminal organizations; tobacco companies, exchange parlors, and cooperatives actively participate to launder money,” Querey stressed.

The Senator also announced that the CBI will propose to the National Congress that the report be sent to international organizations and that it be made available to all Paraguayan citizens. The document was penned in little over 2 months, based “only based on documents” and not on “opinions,” Querey insisted.

”There are no personal opinions, there are no media headlines, all the members (of the CBI) had access to the documents regarding ... money laundering,“ the physician also stressed.

Querey also explained that several tobacco companies ”resell to each other and do not pay taxes“, after which they send products to Brazil, with an organization linked to drug trafficking and international terrorism as buyers. He also noted that the companies mentioned in the report were linked to former President Horacio Cartes, who has been added to the US State Department's list of most corrupt politicians.

”Exchange between companies, unjustified loans between companies, purchases and repurchases between the same companies, operations that are not legally exported, we have identified the companies and the directors of the client companies are linked to illicit trafficking and money laundering,” Querey said.

The report seeks to identify the logistical route of trafficking by criminal organizations, such as the Rotela Clan, Red Command, and the First Capital Command, which are dedicated mainly to the illegal arms business.

Querey underlined that 60% of the low-caliber weapons that illegally enter Brazil pass through Paraguay, as do 90% of the large-caliber ones.

The CBI group will deliver the document to Senate Speaker Óscar Salomón, who will in turn relay it to the other Senators, and, in all likelihood, it will also reach the Public Prosecutor's Office.

(Source: Ultima Hora)