A Hezbollah flag flutters in the wind in the southern Lebanese village of Meiss al-Jabal on Dec. 16, 2018. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Saturday announced the sanctioning of Paraguay’s former president and current vice president for corruption, citing their links to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Former president Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara and current vice president Hugo Adalberto Velazquez Moreno were sanctioned "for their involvement in the rampant corruption that undermines democratic institutions in Paraguay," an OFAC statement said.
"Cartes and Velazquez both have ties to members of Hezbollah, an entity designated by the US Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization and the target of multiple OFAC designations," the statement continued. "Hezbollah has regularly held private events in Paraguay where politicians make agreements for favors, sell state contracts, and discuss law enforcement efforts in exchange for bribes. Representatives of both Cartes and Velazquez have collected bribes at these meetings."
The US Treasury said in a statement issued Tuesday that it was placing sanctions on Lebanese money exchanger Hassan Moukalled and his business for alleged financial ties to Hezbollah.
The US has previously imposed sanctions on many individuals with links to the powerful Shiite party, but also on senior Lebanese politicians like Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil and Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil over corruption charges.