According to the report, the ex -president would have $ 21 million hidden in offshore accounts located in the Seychelles Islands. The complaint, which quickly went viral, generated an immediate reaction of the politician’s environment.
Mario Abdo Benítez assumed the presidency of Paraguay on August 15, 2018 after imposing himself as a traditional candidate Colorado party. Political and ideological heir of Stronism, tried to build an image of “renovator” and promised to govern with austerity. However, his five -year period ended on August 15, 2023 with complaints of favoritism in public works and a fierce partisan internal who eroded his political capital. The final outbreak came with a complaint that connects offshore accounts, unexplained utilities and possible serious economic crimes.
Throughout his mandate, Abdo cultivated an explicit alliance with USA: He endorsed sanctions against Venezuela, supported intelligence operations and allowed military training. This proximity was documented in April 2025, when a confidential cable of the exembajador Marc Ostfield, who described him as “strategic ally” and defended his business despite internal criticism. That document confirmed the suspicions of the Foreign Ministry, which in 2024 had demanded the anticipated departure of the diplomat.
In Paraguay they investigate accounts of former president Mario Abdo Benítez in a fiscal paradise
The scandal exploded when, just days after leaving the presidency, Abdo presented an affidavit that indicated a net assets of some U $ 3 million. But the Comptroller General of the Republic revealed that two of its companies (Aldia SA and Createc SA) generated profits for more than US $ 45 million between 2018 and 2023of which 90% was reclassified as “reservations”, dodging taxes and fiscal control.
To this was added a confidential filtration with bank records that reveal the existence of Two companies registered in Seychelles, a well -known fiscal paradise. Both accounts (one open in November 2022 and another in September 2023) are in the name of Abdo and his wife, and add more than U $ 21 million. Transfers linked to these societies exhibit a typical money laundering pattern: Express Constitution of LLCs, fiduciary accounts without final beneficiary declared, fractional flows from fiscal paradises and eventual repatriation in the form of opaque investments.
The magnitude of the capital declared outside the country (seven times higher than what is officially registered) opens a series of judicial and diplomatic questions. Where did the initial capital come from? Was it hidden through unponed profits? What role did the American support played? The Ostfield cable, strikingly, does not mention the extraordinary profits of the former president’s signatures.
Mario Abdo Benítez.
The next investigations will focus on two fronts: the accounting engineering that allowed hiding utilities locally, and the route of money towards opaque jurisdictions. Seychelleswith corporate secret and a symbolic tax of 1.5 %, offers ideal conditions for the concealment of funds. Without international cooperation, Paraguay can hardly follow the complete trail.
The case could mark an institutional inflection point. If justice acts independently, Abdo Benítez I could face Illicit enrichment and money laundering charges, with sentences that include up to 10 years in prison and the confiscation of heritage. If, on the other hand, the causes are diluted, the perception that, in Paraguaymoney and power are still above the law.
At stake is not only the legacy of a former president, but also the credibility of a political system that aspires to position the country as a regional logistics. The outcome will say if Paraguay He is willing to investigate his own leaders with the same hardness with which he persecutes his critics.
Source: Ambito
