[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/victor-bernal-politician-wikipedia\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/victor-bernal-politician-wikipedia\/","headline":"Victor Bernal (politician) – Wikipedia","name":"Victor Bernal (politician) – Wikipedia","description":"before-content-x4 Victor Lu\u00eds Bernal Garay is a Paraguayan senator for the Colorado Party and the former director of the bi-national","datePublished":"2017-06-02","dateModified":"2017-06-02","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/author\/lordneo\/#Person","name":"lordneo","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/author\/lordneo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":100,"height":100},"url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/victor-bernal-politician-wikipedia\/","about":["Wiki"],"wordCount":4153,"articleBody":"     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});before-content-x4Victor Lu\u00eds Bernal Garay is a Paraguayan senator for the Colorado Party and the former director of the bi-national hydroelectric enterprise Itaip\u00fa. He is an accountant by profession.[1] An official investigation of Bernal’s finances began while he was at Itaip\u00fa and continued into his years in the Senate. An attempt was made to impeach him, and both he and his wife, Mar\u00eda Elizabeth Pleva, spent years engaged in legal battles over charges of embezzlement.       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Table of ContentsCEO of Itaip\u00fa[edit]Bernal relatives employed by Itaip\u00fa[edit]Controversial lifestyle[edit]Resignation[edit]Senator[edit]Committees[edit]Senatorial activities and related events[edit]Legal difficulties[edit]Recommended for return to Itaip\u00fa[edit]References[edit]CEO of Itaip\u00fa[edit]Bernal was appointed Paraguayan director of Itaip\u00fa in September 2003.[2] Itaip\u00fa, which is jointly owned by Brazil and Paraguay, describes itself as \u201cthe largest power producer in the world\u201d and says that its mission is to \u201cgenerate quality electricity via socially and environmentally responsible practices, and to foster sustainable economic, tourist, and technological development in Brazil and Paraguay.\u201d[2] Its energy source is the Itaip\u00fa Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, which is located on the Paran\u00e1 River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The dam was named one of the seven wonders of the modern world in 1994 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.[3]       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4During his tenure at Itaip\u00fa, under President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, Bernal was one of the most influential figures in Paraguayan politics.[4]Bernal relatives employed by Itaip\u00fa[edit]Bernal’s wife, Mar\u00eda Elizabeth Pleva, served as assistant Paraguayan director of Itaip\u00fa under Bernal, and his brother Oscar was on the staff of Itaip\u00fa’s Retirement and Pension Fund, a job that, according to the Paraguayan newspaper ABC, Itaip\u00fa, involved little or no work. His nephew Luis Ben\u00edtez Bernal worked in Human Resources at Itaip\u00fa; a cousin, Jos\u00e9 Luis Bernal Sanabria, worked for Itaip\u00fa’s Tes\u00e3i Foundation; another cousin, Nilda Garay Pereira, worked for Itaip\u00fa’s pension fund, a job that was described by ABC as having \u201cno known functions\u201d; Luis Francisco Pereira Vigo, a nephew of Bernal’s first wife, worked as an assistant to Bernal.As of 2007, Bernal’s son Hugo, who was in his twenties, was reportedly earning a high salary as an adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay, even though he was not a career diplomat, which is ordinarily a requirement for such positions.[5]During his time at Itaip\u00fa, Bernal earned a total of G 4,004,670,277 in salary, and his wife earned G 1,596,560,135. They also made G 1,000,000,000 from selling property.[6]       (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4Controversial lifestyle[edit]Beginning on 9 September 2007, ABC ran a series of articles about the Bernal family. The first article, headlined \u201cPornographic display of wealth by Victor Bernal and his family,\u201d began by listing several examples to illustrate the Bernal family’s opulent lifestyle.[7]In the concluding article in the series, the “new ‘royalty'” was said to have replaced the “old ‘barons'”. It was noted that Pleva enjoyed a \u201ctitle and salary at Itaip\u00fa, plus a vehicle, driver, fuel, and bodyguards.\u201d[5]In an October 2007 article about Bernal’s acquisition of wealth and land, it was noted that his property and money were the result of “miraculous multiplication”. On just two properties, Bernal had spent G 1,300 million, almost twice his annual salary of G 720 million.[8]Resignation[edit]Bernal resigned from Itaip\u00fa in January 2008 to run for the Paraguayan senate, and was paid G 303,266,890 by Itaip\u00fa in compensation for his period of service.[6] On 17 January, President Nicanor Duarte announced that Ram\u00f3n Romero Roa would replace Bernal.[9]Senator[edit]In the Paraguayan general election on 20 April 2008, Bernal was elected to the Senate.Committees[edit]In the Senate, Bernal has sat on the following permanent committees:Hacienda, Presupuesto y Cuentas –  2008-9, 2009\u201310, 2010\u201311, 2011\u201312, 2012\u201313Energ\u00eda, Recursos Naturales, Poblaci\u00f3n, Ambiente, Producci\u00f3n y Desarrollo Sostenible –  2008-9, 2009\u201310, 2011\u201312, 2012-13Econom\u00eda, Cooperativismo, Desarrollo e Integraci\u00f3n Econ\u00f3mica Latinoamericana –  2009-10, 2010\u201311, 2011\u201312, 2012-13Cuentas y Control de la Administraci\u00f3n Financiera del Estado –  2011-12, 2012\u201313He has sat on the following bicameral committee:C.Bicameral Encargada del Estudio del Presupuesto General de la Naci\u00f3n, Ejercicio Fiscal 2011,  Fiscal 2012[10]Senatorial activities and related events[edit]Bernal denounced the Ministries of Public Health, Agriculture, and Education in May 2012 for using their resources for political purposes.[11]A large group of young people gathered outside Bernal’s home in June 2012 to protest his involvement in the impeachment of President Fernando Lugo.[12]Bernal called in January 2013 for an end to negotiations between the Paraguayan government and the power company Rio Tinto Alcan, questioning the price the firm was charging for energy.[13]Legal difficulties[edit]During his tenure as CEO of Itaip\u00fa, and also during his subsequent service in the Paraguayan Senate, Bernal has been the subject of several different investigations and prosecutions based on his activities while working at Itaip\u00fa. He was investigated for overcharging for public-works projects in the town of Minga Guaz\u00fa that were paid for by Itaip\u00fa; for diverting Itaip\u00fa assets to finance campaigns by Colorado Party candidates in 2007 and 2008; for misusing public-works funds; for embezzling; and for using Itaip\u00fa-owned assets to purchase equipment for the Tes\u00e3i Foundation.[1]ABC noted on 5 March 2008 that Bernal had bought space in its pages to deny facts that the paper had reported about his use of funds from Itaip\u00fa that were supposed to be spent on public-works projects in the town of Minga Guaz\u00fa in Alto Paran\u00e1. Yet Bernal had \u201cnot offered a single document in proof\u201d of his claims. By contrast, ABC maintained, the evidence of his guilt was ample. ABC added that \u201cBernal said yesterday that this daily had cut off contact with him. This is false. For a year, we have sought answers to simple questions about the use of the binational’s funds. He has not yet granted an interview. Or responded to our questionnaires.\u201d[14]Prosecutor Sergio Alegre of the Attorney General’s Office asked Judge Ruben Ayala Brun on 16 April 2008 to dismiss an embezzlement complaint filed against Bernal by public advocate Edgar Villalba and by Gerardo Rol\u00f3n Pose and Nils Candia Gini, presidents of the Democratic and Revolutionary Febrerista parties, respectively. The prosecutor requested the dismissal because a study of Bernal’s and his wife’s finances indicated that their joint legal income over a period of years had exceeded their expenditures, a finding which, if confirmed, would leave Ayala Brun with no choice other than to dismiss the charges. Ayala Brun asked the Attorney General to ratify or rectify the opinion, whereupon deputy prosecutor Carlos Arregui, head of the Economic Crime and Anti-Corruption Unit, intervened, arguing that there were points that had to be investigated before the complaint could be dismissed or a criminal case opened. It was reported on 24 April 2008 that the Attorney General had ten working days, beginning on 23 April, to respond to the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the case.[15]The Prosecutors’ Office was accused of making an \u201cundisguised attempt to launder the new Colorado Senator Victor Bernal,\u201d as demonstrated by the unusual speed with which Alegre had upheld the embezzlement complaint dismissal against Bernal. Noting that Alegre had ignored evidence that ABC itself had supplied in earlier articles, Reinfeldt described the prosecution as \u201cone of the poorest\u201d Alegre had ever carried out, and noted that the judge had \u201cbounced\u201d Alegre twice \u201cin a desperate attempt to secure a better investigation….Through negligence or ignorance, or deliberately, Alegre has ignored fundamental principles that are employed in the judiciary to carry out a proper investigation of embezzlement that encompasses everyone in the closest ring surrounding Bernal.\u201d[16]Alegre was informed on 8 May 2008 by Arregui that the latter would continue to pursue a prosecution of Bernal for embezzlement during his tenure at Itaip\u00fa.[17] On 16 May 2008, Arregui announced that he was opening a criminal investigation into Bernal’s use of public-works funds, and said that he had jurisdiction to investigate acts by Itaip\u00fa in Paraguay.[18]Luis Alberto Franco wrote a letter to Alegre in June 2008 denying charges that he was a front man for Bernal.[15]A September 2008 overview of government corruption in Paraguay mentioned Bernal as a \u201cman of humble origin\u201d who in slightly over five years had become \u201can owner of mansions and ranches\u201d and joined the list of Paraguay’s leading billionaires, and who now, as a recently elected Senator, enjoyed \u201cparliamentary immunity.\u201d[19]It was reported on 2 September 2008 that Bernal, while serving as CEO of Itaip\u00fa, had violated its internal controls by personally authorizing millions in disbursements without any verification.[20] After an audit by Ram\u00f3n Romero Roa, also a former Itaip\u00fa director, Bernal was investigated for diverting more than G 34 billion from Itaip\u00fa to the Tes\u00e2i Foundation.[4][21]Itaip\u00fa’s Paraguayan director, Carlos Mateo Balmelli, accused Bernal and Ramon Roa, another former Itaip\u00fa director, on 21 October 2008, of embezzling about 34 billion Gs. Mateo said that Itaip\u00fa’s lawyers had requested the impeachment of Bernal in order to \u201cfacilitate the investigation.\u201d On the same date Mateo made public a report on the Tes\u00e3i Foundation, which, according to an external audit, had been used to drain funds from Itaip\u00fa.[22]It was reported on 4 November 2008, that four companies apparently hired by Itaip\u00fa during Bernal’s tenure to do campaign work for the Colorado Party had billed Itaip\u00fa a total of over G 22 billion (U.S. $4.7 million). The firms were operated under the direction of Alejandro (Sasha) Evreinoff, brother-in-law of Wilfrido Taboada, Itaip\u00fa’s CFO and Bernal’s right-hand man.[23]In late November 2008, lawyers for Bernal, appearing before the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, appealed the decision of State Attorney General Ruben Candia Amarilla to appoint Rocio Vallejo to investigate illegal political funding during Bernal’s tenure at Itaip\u00fa. Meanwhile, Arregui ordered Acu\u00f1a to continue looking into the alleged campaign funding.[24]Judge Patricia Gonz\u00e1lez was appointed in December 2008 to adjudicate a case brought against Bernal by prosecutor Gustavo Gamba, who accused him of squandering funds intended to be transferred from Itaip\u00fa to Minga Guaz\u00fa for public-works projects.[25] On 10 December, Bernal was charged with breach of trust for his leadership of Itaip\u00fa.[26] On 11 December Gonz\u00e1lez said that she would seek Bernal’s impeachment.[27] On 18 December, Gonz\u00e1lez sent a message to the Paraguayan Congress ordering that Bernal be impeached by the Senate for breach of trust.[28] On 19 December Gonzalez approved Bernal’s application for parliamentary immunity,[29] while Gamba insisted that impeachment proceedings against Bernal go forward.[30]The Paraguayan Court of Appeals decided on 10 February 2009 to take on the case against Bernal in the matter of the Minga Guaz\u00fa funds.[31]Acu\u00f1a refused on 19 February 2009 to dismiss a complaint that Bernal, in 2006, while serving as director of Itaip\u00fa, had ordered the purchase for $450,000 of an MRI scanner that became unusable after a brief period. The charge was part of the case involving the Tes\u00e3i  Foundation.[32]As of May 2009, the charges against Bernal relating to the use of Itaip\u00fa funds to pay Colorado Party campaign expenses were being officially investigated by Evreinoff.[33]Prosecutors taped Bernal on 3 June 2009 delivering an initial payment of $90,000 to Gamba in return for Gamba’s promise to dismiss one of five cases pending against Bernal involving his reported misuse of funds while serving as director of the Itaip\u00fa. On 8 June 2009, it was reported that Gamba would be prosecuted on charges of seeking a bribe from Bernal. Allegedly, Gamba, acting through lawyer Juan Portillo, had demanded a payout of $150,000, with a first payment of $90,000, in exchange for dropping the case against Bernal. Bernal reported Gamba to the authorities, and the prosecutor was secretly filmed accepting money.[18]The head of Itaip\u00fa, Carlos Mateo Balmelli, told Radio Primero de Marzo in June 2009 that Bernal had spent five million dollars on social events during his tenure at Itaip\u00fa and that he, Mateo, would be filing charges against Bernal with Attorney General Amarilla.[34]It was reported on 9 July 2009 that Gamba had been replaced as prosecutor on the Minga Guaz\u00fa case by Eduardo Cazenave, who was planning to travel to Alto Paran\u00e1 to investigate the disappearance of G. 380,418,219 in funds designated for Minga Guaz\u00fa. The same article reported that the proceedings against Bernal were stalled in the Supreme Court.[35]The Criminal Chamber of the Paraguayan Supreme Court, ruling in favor of a motion by Bernal, removed Arregui and fellow prosecutors Rocio Vallejo and Arnaldo Giuzzio on 15 July 2009 from the case against Bernal on which they had been working.[36]It was reported on 23 June 2009 that the director of Itaip\u00fa  had requested that investigations of Bernal being carried out by the Economic Crimes and Corruption Unit be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office, but Amarilla expressed support for the unit and ordered that the investigations remain in its hands.[37]Prosecutor Victoria Acu\u00f1a of the Economic Crimes Unit announced on 30 July 2009 that she was investigating the alleged use of Itaip\u00fa funds during Bernal’s tenure to pay campaign expenses incurred by the Colorado Party in the 2008 general elections.[38]Prosecutors accused Gamba on 4 December 2009 of soliciting a $150,000 bribe from Bernal. Gamba was suspended from his position, while Bernal’s senatorial position was protected by political immunity.[39]ABC ran an article early in 2010 claiming that the legal process against Bernal had been stalled because of \u201cchicanery.\u201d[29]An ABC article on 24 May 2010 summed up Bernal’s complex legal situation as of that date. Alegre was investigating embezzlement charges; Acu\u00f1a was investigating the use of public-works funds to pay the Colorado Party’s campaign expenses in the 2008 general election; Cazenave was investigating accusations of overcharging in the matter of Minga Guaz\u00fa; and Silvia Cabrera was investigating the abuse of Itaip\u00fa  funds via the Tes\u00e3i  Foundation. Alegre had tried to \u201claunder\u201d Bernal by \u201carchiving\u201d charges against him, but this had been blocked by Judge Ruben Ayala Brun, with Arregui insisting on the need for further investigation. \u201cIt is not easy to pursue investigations against the ‘big boys,’\u201d ABC observed, noting that Roberto Melgarejo, husband of Judge Gonzalez, who was in charge of the Minga Guaz\u00fa case, is a friend of Bernal, \u201cand there is talk that they would be negotiating to ‘launder’\u201d him. Meanwhile, Bernal’s \u201crequest for immunity remains frozen in the judiciary.\u201d[40]It was announced in February 2011 that Bernal would not be tried for irregularly appropriating funds designated for public-service outlays in Minga Guaz\u00fa.[18] District Attorney Victoria Acu\u00f1a indicted a former CFO of Itaip\u00fa and two other Itaip\u00fa officials, however, for using these funds to pay campaign expenses for Bernal and others.[41]Bernal met with Arregui and Alegre on 17 March 2011 to discuss their separate investigations of him. An ABC report noted that these meetings between Bernal and the investigators had become common. Meanwhile, Victoria Acu\u00f1a, Eduardo Cazenave, and Humberto Otaz\u00fa were investigating other charges against him. Also, Silvia Cabrera was looking into charges of embezzlement relating to the Tes\u00e3i Foundation that had been raised by Carlos Mateo Balmelli. In reply to Balmelli’s charges, Bernal called him a liar and a \u201cscoundrel\u201d.[42]It was reported on 4 September 2011 that Acu\u00f1a had decided to officially charge Wilfrido Taboada, Rulfo Velilla Aguilera, and Guido Roque Zacar\u00edas Michelagnoli with using Itaip\u00fa funds to pay Colorado Party campaign expenses. She did not charge Bernal, even though he was CEO of Itaip\u00fa at the time and his senatorial campaign was one of those that most benefited from the alleged diversion of funds.[43]After an investigation of the finances of Bernal and his family that lasted from 2001 to 2011, it was reported in February 2012 that the embezzlement case against Bernal and Pleva was close to being dismissed because the prosecution’s expert, Graciela Alvarez, had not found anything incriminating.[44] In April 2012, it was reported that \u00c1lvarez and defense expert V\u00edctor Gonz\u00e1lez had both rendered opinions in Bernal’s favor, although some questions remained, especially in regard to Bernal’s alleged front men, including Juan \u00c1ngel Ch\u00e1vez, Crist\u00f3bal Ch\u00e1vez, F\u00e9lix Ben\u00edtez Molas, Luis Alberto L\u00f3pez Zayas, and \u00d3scar Ren\u00e9 Cabrera Rodr\u00edguez, plus Luis Pereira Vigo and Fernando Jos\u00e9 Vera Vigo, the latter two being nephews of Bernal’s ex-wife, Natividad Mercedes Lugo. The questions surrounded, among other things, the formation of a company called SOL 25 and the purchase of a large property in Villeta known as Potrero Guyrat\u00ee for a suspiciously low price.[45]It was reported on 30 May 2012 that Alegre would not be charging Bernal and Pleva with embezzlement, given that their reported income exceeded their reported expenditures.[46] In June 2012, Judge Rub\u00e9n Ayala Brun upheld Alegre’s request to dismiss the case brought by Gerardo Rol\u00f3n Posse and Nils Candia against Bernal and his wife on charges of embezzlement. The judge noted, however, that the cases against alleged front men Ricardo Gim\u00e9nez Ben\u00edtez, Luis Pereira Vigo y Jorge Pereira Vigo, Fernando Jos\u00e9 Vera, Juan \u00c1ngel Ch\u00e1vez, Alberto Franco Maciel, \u00d3scar Cabrera Rodr\u00edguez, Luis Alberto L\u00f3pez, and F\u00e9lix Ben\u00edtez Molas, and against Natividad Mercedes Lugo, remained \u201con standby.\u201d[17][46][47]It was reported on 2 October 2012 that Judge Miguel Tadeo Fernandez had ordered Acu\u00f1a to spend another year investigating the alleged use under Bernal’s tenure at Itaip\u00fa of public-works funds to pay campaign expenses incurred in 2008 by the Colorado Party.[48]On 15 October 2012, it was reported that Gamba and Portillo had been officially charged with receiving a bribe from Bernal.[49]On 16 October Acu\u00f1a asked for a dismissal of a case against Bernal’s Itaip\u00fa  associates Wilfrido Taboada Molinas, Rulfo Ren\u00e9 Velilla Aguilera, and Guido Roque Zacar\u00edas Michelagnoli, saying that the evidence that Itaip\u00fa  funds had been used to pay Colorado Party campaign expenses was inconclusive. On 11 November, however, ABC stated that the evidence, to which the newspaper had access, proved that Itaip\u00fa  funds had been spent on the party’s 2008 campaign.[50]It was again reported on 2 November 2012 that Bernal would not be prosecuted for alleged misuse of the Minga Guaz\u00fa funds.[51]On 12 November it was reported that the Ministry of Health had not signed any agreement with Itaip\u00fa to combat dengue, thereby supporting charges that more than G. 1,100 million in Itaip\u00fa funds purportedly spent on an anti-dengue campaign had in fact been spent on the Colorado Party’s 2008 election campaign.[52] Later in November, Acu\u00f1a asked Judge Tadeo Fernandez to dismiss the charges that Itaip\u00fa funds had been used to pay campaign expenses.[53] On 29 December it was reported that Tadeo Fernandez had finally dismissed the charges against Rulfo Ren\u00e9 Velilla Aguilera, Guido Guillermo Roque Zacar\u00edas Michelagnoli, and Wilfrido Emigdio Taboada.[54]Recommended for return to Itaip\u00fa[edit]Senator Juan Carlos \u201cCal\u00e9\u201d Galaverna of the Colorado Party recommended to the party’s presidential candidate, Horacio Cartes, in December 2012 that if he wins the 2013 general election, he should appoint Bernal to the position of Paraguayan director of Itaip\u00fa.[55]References[edit]     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});after-content-x4"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/victor-bernal-politician-wikipedia\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Victor Bernal (politician) – Wikipedia"}}]}]