Óscar Venancio “Ñoño” Núñez, the brother of Basilio “Bachi” Núñez, was released from prison and placed under house arrest yesterday, Friday, after the tribunal approved the defense's request. After paying a bail of 54 billion guarantees, the former governor of Presidente Hayes will spend the end of the year at home.
Prosecutor Luis Said rejected the verdict because he considers him to be a flight risk. “We must not lose sight of the fact that the appeal against the verdict has been discussed since February of this year.” To date, we have no answer to this debate. This is a precautionary measure of pre-trial detention, which is not the concrete execution of the conviction. “The prosecution believes that this verdict should be confirmed,” he said.
In December last year, Ñoño was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court specializing in economic crimes for breach of trust and taking advantage. According to the judges, the ex-governor diverted public funds to transport gasoline, pay personal loans and even bet on horse races during his time in office between 2008 and 2012.
The congress president's brother has inflicted financial damage on the ministry estimated at 42.5 billion guarantees (US$5.7 million). The court also banned him from holding public office for a period of ten years. Following today's decision, the leader of the Colorado party in Benjamín Aceval will have to settle and pay bail before leaving the Viñas Cué prison.
Strictly speaking, Núñez had already exceeded the time limit for pre-trial detention – his lawyers had also expressly stated that he was being held in a military prison – and if he paid the bail, which should be at least as high as the financial damage he would inflict on the department president Hayes added. The defense highlighted that the court's decision was unanimous. Nevertheless, the bail for embezzlement is paid with money that only comes from government sources so that a thief and robber can be “released” again.
In the same case, Emigdio Benítez, Ñoño's successor, was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months for causing damage of about 10 billion guarantees, Nancy Núñez de Roussillon, ex-Secretary of Administration and Finance of the Governor's Office and wife of the ex- Governor and current congressman Rubén Rousillon, to 5 years in prison, Edulfo Verón, also ex-secretary, to 6 years and Raúl Delgado, official of the Paraguayan Organization for Intercommunal Cooperation (Opaci), sentenced to 3 years in prison.
From a humble family without a home of their own, the Núñez family has taken over the municipality of Villa Hayes, the capital of the department, where two of the three brothers (Basilio and Ricardo) serve as mayors. Their opponents accuse the clan of having, together with the interior minister's father, Enrique Riera, driven Paraguay's only steelworks, Acepar, into bankruptcy.
Riera, who was head of Acepar between 2007 and 2008, and Argentine negotiator Sergio Quasteli, the steel company's administrator, were investigated this fall. In a short time, the Núñez brothers moved into their new residences and invested a million dollars in their new company: Astilleros Villa Hayes SA. The clan also runs one of the department capital's most important radio stations and is active in the real estate business.
Weekly newspaper / LPO
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