Pay slip mafia: New charges do not constitute double jeopardy, judge rules

A Paraguayan judge has rejected a bid by a former justice of the peace to halt new charges against her, ruling that the accusations do not constitute double jeopardy. Nathalia Garcete, formerly of the Catedral 2nd Precinct, was again indicted in May as part of an ongoing investigation into the "pagarés mafia," a scheme involving fraudulent promissory notes.

Garcete's defense argued that her client was being tried twice for the same offenses, citing two separate cases (N° 15/2025 and N° 134/2026) that allegedly involved identical actions. The defense contended that this violated her procedural and constitutional rights. Similar arguments were presented by co-defendants César Rubén Bogarín Alen, a representative of CARSA, along with former court official Pablo Matías Cabrera Irigoitia and former bailiff Mariam Adelaida Ortíz Aquino.

However, Judge Humberto Otazú, who specializes in economic crimes, found that the facts presented in the current indictment were distinct from those in the previous case. The new charges relate to conducting civil lawsuits despite knowing the defendant was unaware of them. Otazú determined that these specific civil lawsuits were not attributed in the same manner in the earlier case, N° 15/2025, as evidenced by the indictment records and previous court rulings.

Consequently, Judge Otazú denied the motions filed by Garcete and her co-defendants. While these decisions were rejected at the initial stage, the defendants have the option to appeal, and their actions will be reviewed by an Appellate Tribunal.

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the facts imputed in the present cause (to carry out civil lawsuits despite the defendant's lack of knowledge and knowingly of said lack of knowledge) were not attributed in relation to the same civil lawsuits in cause N° 15/2025, as can be observed in the indictment record of said cause as well as in the conclusive request and AI N° 109 of elevation to oral and public trial.