Paraguayan businesswoman linked to Ronaldinho Gaúcho may be a fugitive in Brazil, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

247 - The Paraguayan Public Prosecutor's Office was informed that Dalia López, a businesswoman linked to Ronaldinho Gaúcho, was a fugitive in Brazil. Her arrest warrant had been issued last Wednesday, the 18th, in connection with the case of the former Brazilian national team player and his brother, Roberto de Assis, who entered the country with false passports.

Osmar Legal, one of the prosecutors involved in the investigation, said that the Public Prosecutor's Office received information that Dalia might be in Brazil, but that nothing has been confirmed. He did not clarify whether Paraguayan authorities requested any collaboration from the Brazilian police or if the businesswoman is being sought in Brazil.

The businesswoman did not attend a hearing on Wednesday, the 18th, where she would have been informed of all the accusations against her by the Public Prosecutor's Office and could have been subject to preventive detention. Her lawyers justified her non-attendance by stating that she has diabetes and hypertension, which places her in a high-risk group in relation to the coronavirus.

However, the Paraguayan justice system declared her a "rebel" and issued an arrest warrant. She has been a fugitive ever since.

During a trip to Paraguay, Ronaldinho was to participate in an event for the NGO run by Dalia. The businesswoman's lawyers admit that she asked an acquaintance to handle the paperwork for the brothers' fake Paraguayan passports, but claim that they were legal passports and identification documents.

Dalia was prosecuted for producing and using false documents and for criminal conspiracy. She is also suspected of involvement in money laundering, which her defense denies.