Paraguayan prosecutors asked for reports to US. UU. in case bank Atlas

ASSUMPTION. The team of prosecutors in charge of investigating alleged cases of money laundering in the environment of Nicolás Leoz and the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) requested legal assistance from the United States authorities. The request is based on three specific points, mainly on bank transfers that involve Banco Atlas, owned by the Zuccolillo family. According to investigations, the entity was used for money laundering.

According to the news portal El Observador, prosecutors Alma Zayas, Verónica Valdez, Jorge Arce and Francisco Cabrera requested that the US authorities send records of transfers made from Conmebol accounts to Paraguayan financial entities, in the name of people linked to Nicolás Leo Almirón, María Clemencia Pérez de Leoz, Josué Nicolás Leoz Pérez, and other possible related subjects.

Likewise, they requested reports, emails, conversations and memoranda detailing money shipments or transfers from Conmebol accounts to the aforementioned people, during the period between 2010 and 2015.

In addition, they requested any other relevant information that is linked to transfers or shipments of money from Conmebol accounts to natural and legal persons residing in Paraguay, for which there is no justification.

In response, Conmebol urged investigators to rule on the case. According to information provided on its official website, the criminal investigation has been paralyzed for six years, despite having filed a documented complaint about suspicious money laundering operations involving the former president of Conmebol, Nicolás Leoz, and Banco Atlas.

The complaint is based on a forensic audit carried out by Conmebol itself, which was presented six years ago to the State Attorney General’s Office. The Confederation reiterated its urgency for the authorities to initiate criminal actions regarding these suspicious money laundering operations, in which Nicolás Leoz and Banco Atlas are implicated.

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