Paraguay
Rubén Penayo Questions Lack of Progress in His Complaint Against Basilio Núñez
The complainant said that, four months after filing it with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he was not called to ratify it and received no information about any possible investigation. He also pointed to delays in a request before the Comptroller General’s Office.
Rubén Penayo said, according to ABC Color, that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has still not informed him whether it opened a fiscal case after the criminal complaint he filed on May 11, 2026, against Senate President Basilio “Bachi” Núñez.
According to that outlet, Penayo said that over these four months he was not called to ratify his filing or to provide new evidence. The official said he does not know whether the complaint led to a formal investigation.
The filing, always according to what ABC Color published, raises possible criminal offenses linked to the administration of public resources and contracts carried out during Núñez’s tenure at the head of Congress and the Senate.
Penayo expressed concern over the delay and said he feared that time could be used to prepare documentation that would mitigate any administrative responsibilities, if any existed, in the National Congress and the Senate.
According to ABC Color, the complainant stood by all the terms of his original filing and subsequent briefs. He also described the delay as especially concerning because of the likely harm to the public treasury.
The complaint mentions indications that, according to the complainant’s theory, could be consistent with breach of trust, influence peddling, self-dealing and unlawful collection of fees.
ABC Color recalled that Penayo estimated an annual excess expenditure of approximately G. 9,653 million due to detected salary differences. With a projection through June 2028, he calculated a possible loss of G. 19,306 million. By extrapolating that sample to 593 new absolute hires, the complaint set a potential patrimonial loss of G. 40,610,341,842, equivalent to about US$ 6.65 million. The outlet clarified that this is an estimate by the complainant that must be corroborated or ruled out in any eventual investigation.
Penayo also said, again according to ABC Color, that there had been no progress in a filing submitted before the Comptroller General’s Office to review documentation and procedures applied in appointments made during the last two years of Núñez’s administration in Congress and the Senate.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this fact.
