Paraguay raid on former president Santiago Peña’s home in San Bernardino, Digi Mart USA News (San Bernardino, Paraguay): Prosecutors and officers of Paraguay’s National Police searched the summer house of former president Santiago Peña on Sunday afternoon in San Bernardino, in the Ciervo Cuá area of Cordillera department. The search is part of the case over the closure of Ueno Bank, in which Peña is charged with breach of trust and administration for his own benefit.
The Senate had removed him from office two days earlier through impeachment.
The operation, led by prosecutors Christian Benítez and Silvia González Véster, began shortly before 7 p.m. According to the local newspaper ABC, authorities reportedly found a vault hidden behind a false wall that they could not access because of a sophisticated security system.
As of Sunday night, however, it had not been reported which documents or assets were seized.
The house is central to the charges. According to the prosecution filing, on May 13, 2024, while Peña was already president, Ueno Bank granted him two simultaneous loans totaling 3,548 million guaraníes (about USD 600,000) to build the residence, which cost roughly 7,700 million guaraníes (about USD 1.3 million).
The monthly installments of 239 million guaraníes were equal to six times his presidential salary of 37.9 million guaraníes.
On November 2, the board of the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) unanimously decided to intervene Ueno Bank after adjustments to its financial statements left its solvency ratio below half the legal minimum. The bank, controlled by the Vázquez Group since it acquired Financiera El Comercio in 2021, had 2.9 million clients and was the country’s fifth-largest by deposit volume.
Peña bought 1,500 shares of Credicentro, the company later renamed Ueno Holding, in March 2019 and kept them through the first two years of his term, until April 2025. During that period, public bodies and the Institute of Social Security (IPS), which manages pensions for most of the country’s workers, placed deposits at Ueno totaling 3.6 trillion guaraníes and USD 233.4 million.
Prosecutors contend that Peña took part in placing, renewing and maintaining those funds and estimate the damage at USD 809.5 million.
The freezing of accounts announced on November 3 drew savers and retirees into the streets. On Wednesday, police dispersed protesters in Asunción with tear gas and water cannons.
On Thursday, November 5, thousands gathered outside Congress demanding impeachment and burned an effigy of Peña. That night, a group threw stones at a Ueno branch in the city center.
Seven people were arrested and one police officer was injured. Peña submitted his resignation that Thursday, but ruling-party legislators did not provide a quorum to consider it.
The Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the accusation, and on Friday, November 6, the Senate removed him for poor performance of duties by a vote of 44, after rejecting his request for 72 hours to prepare a defense. Vice President Pedro Alliana assumed the presidency, and Peña was detained that same night.
On Saturday, prosecutors charged him as an instigator of breach of trust and as the perpetrator of administration for his own benefit. Peña declined to testify.
Guarantee judge Humberto Otazú ordered him held in pretrial detention at the Presidential Escort Regiment, a military facility in Asunción, and the courts froze his assets and accounts. Former BCP president Carlos Carvallo, also charged in the same case, was placed in pretrial detention as well.
Repayment to depositors is moving forward through the Deposit Guarantee Fund, which covers up to 228.3 million guaraníes (about USD 38,000) per person. Interim BCP president Pedro Acosta said that on Thursday and Friday, 1,196,000 savers received transfers totaling 996,000 million guaraníes, about USD 160 million, out of roughly 1.9 million who are due payments.
The IPS has about USD 355 million invested in the bank, according to its investment director, Hugo Díaz. Starting this Monday, the BCP will begin paying savers who have debts at Ueno, after deducting their overdue obligations.
Balances above the guarantee limit, which official estimates say affect about 87,000 clients, fall outside the fund, and the BCP does not guarantee their repayment.
