Asuncion (AFP)
The lawyers of the former Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho were trying Monday to obtain before the Paraguayan justice the holding of a fast hearing to plead the provisional release of their client, detained for four days in Asuncion for use of false passports.
According to several sources close to the file consulted by AFP, the defense of the Brazilian is fighting for a hearing to take place on Tuesday in a court in the Paraguayan capital so that the release of the 39-year-old player is requested.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, known as Ronaldinho, was arrested on March 6 with his brother Roberto. Both are accused of entering Paraguay in possession of false passports. Their preventive detention was confirmed on Saturday by a judge from the Paraguayan capital.
The 2005 Ballon d'Or arrived on Wednesday with his brother in Asuncion to promote a book and participate in various charitable operations, including the initiative of a foundation, "Fraternidad Angelical", which helps poor children.
The two men showed their passports to the immigration police, who did not immediately find any discrepancies. Paraguayan police then searched the hotel where the two men were staying, and investigators discovered false passports made in Asuncion a few months ago, according to Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo.
The defense of the former player has rejected the responsibility of organizing the trip to Paraguay on the foundation "Fraternidad Angelical" whose president, Dalia Lopez, is the subject of an arrest warrant.
According to Sergio Queiroz, the champion's Brazilian lawyer, the passports were offered by the foundation to Ronaldinho to "facilitate the possibility of doing business" in the country. "Ronaldinho did not commit any crime because he did not know that the passport given to him was a fake," said the lawyer on Sunday.
Marcos Estigarribia, the lawyer for Dalia Lopez, said that his client had asked intermediaries to take steps to obtain official passports at the request of the two brothers who wanted to "do business in Paraguay".
But she "never suspected that intermediaries dealing with the government would issue passports with false information," added the lawyer, who said the player and his brother had paid $ 5,000 to "facilitate the deal". of passports.
Besides Ronaldinho and his brother, a Brazilian entrepreneur Wilmondes Sousa and two Paraguayans were arrested. The scandal also led to the resignation of the national director of migration, Alexis Penayo.
© 2020 AFP