Ronaldinho questioned for using fake passport to enter Paraguay
asuncion — Former Barcelona and Brazil striker Ronaldinho Gaucho was being questioned by Paraguayan authorities on Thursday after arriving in the country with what police said was an adulterated Paraguayan passport.
Ronaldinho and his brother and business manager Roberto de Assis were both questioned by law enforcement officials in their hotel room on the outskirts of Asuncion shortly after arriving in the country on Wednesday, police said in a statement.
Paraguayan prosecutor Federico Delfino told a news conference on Thursday that the pair left Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo with Brazilian passports and were given Paraguayan ones “as soon as they got off the plane”.
“Both Mr Ronaldinho and his brother said they were a gift,” Delfino told reporters.
Initial investigations indicated the numbers on the passports corresponded to other people, Delfino added. “They have not gone through the process of obtaining Paraguayan nationality,” Delfino said. “To get Paraguayan nationality or to be naturalised as a Paraguayan you have to have resided in the country.”
Reuters has contacted Assis to request comment on the allegations.
A lawyer for the former Gremio and AC Milan player said Ronaldinho and his brother did not need passports to travel between Brazil and Paraguay, both of which are members of the Mercosul bloc.
Adolfo Marin told Reuters the pair were taken aside after arriving and asked to show travel documents. He could not explain why they showed Paraguayan passports when they had travelled recently on their Brazilian passports to China, Europe and the United States. —