Former Indert head convicted to 7 years for embezzling nearly G. 15.4 billion

Ignacio Luis Ortigoza Samudio, the former president of Paraguay's Institute of Rural Development and Land (Indert), has been sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement. A trial court found the 51-year-old guilty of causing significant financial harm to the institute through the illicit sale of 13 plots of land totaling 52,000 hectares in the Chaco region.

The unanimous decision by the Sentencing Tribunal, led by Judge Lourdes Garcete, concluded that prosecutors had proven Ortigoza caused a loss of G. 15,381,715,000. The court detailed how Ortigoza disregarded existing regulations, which set a basic price per hectare for the area at 109,500 guaraníes. Instead, he authorized the application of an outdated price from 2003, significantly lower at 30,000 guaraníes per hectare, for the sale of these 13 lots.

This conviction marks Ortigoza's second for corruption during his leadership at Indert. In December 2025, he received a sentence of three years and six months for the production of false public documents. In that case, prosecutors demonstrated that Ortigoza had irregularly awarded a nearly 7-hectare property to five individuals, despite the land belonging to the Mbaracayú Biological Refuge.

Despite the new conviction, the court decided to maintain Ortigoza's existing alternative measures to pre-trial detention for this specific case. This decision was based on the fact that he had already served the minimum penalty for embezzlement. However, he will remain incarcerated due to the prior conviction. The sentencing underscores ongoing efforts to combat corruption within Paraguayan public institutions.