Paraguay prosecutors attempt to open hidden vault found at former president Santiago Peña’s property, Digi Mart USA News (San Bernardino, Paraguay): Paraguayan prosecutors are trying to open a hidden vault discovered during a raid on the summer residence of former President Santiago Peña, as part of the investigation into the Ueno Bank case. Investigators found the compartment behind a false wall at the property in San Bernardino, about 50 kilometers from Asunción, according to the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color.
The newspaper reported that agents were unable to access the interior of the vault because of its security mechanisms. The house has been sealed and placed under custody while authorities look for the means to open the vault, whose contents remain unknown, prosecutors investigating the case said Monday.
The raid on Peña’s summer home took place Sunday, two days after Congress removed Peña from office over his alleged responsibility in the Ueno Bank crisis. The former president, who was replaced by Vice President Pedro Alliana, remains in pretrial detention and has denied committing any irregularities.
On Monday afternoon, prosecutors also began searching another Peña residence in the Mbocayaty neighborhood of Asunción, ABC Color reported. At the same time, a separate prosecutor-police team began searching the home of Carlos Carvallo, former president of the Central Bank of Paraguay, who is also charged in the Ueno case.
The crisis erupted last week when the Central Bank of Paraguay intervened in Ueno Bank over solvency problems, leaving nearly three million customers without access to their accounts. Ueno also held hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to public institutions, including pension system funds.
Paraguayan lawmakers accused Peña, who had been a shareholder in a company linked to the bank’s owning group, of using his influence to favor the institution.
Agents were able to open a first door of the vault at Peña’s summer residence but encountered a second barrier that prevented access, according to prosecutors’ statements on Monday cited by ABC Color. According to the newspaper, the vault reportedly has a security system of Israeli origin that includes iris recognition.
Prosecutors are considering asking family members, including Peña’s wife, former first lady Leticia Ocampos, who might be able to gain access through that system, although they clarified that they would not be obligated to cooperate. For now, transporting the former president to the residence has been ruled out.
Prosecutors have also raised the possibility of a controlled explosive detonation to open the door, a step that specialists would need to evaluate because it could damage the building’s structures. Authorities are also considering the hypothesis that the compartment may have been a safe room intended to protect its occupants from a threat.
In a later appearance, prosecutors Silvia González and Nancy Salomón said they expected to have the technical means needed to open it, without specifying which method they would use. Salomón said the house would remain sealed while investigators continue gathering information about how the system works.
The summer residence is also under investigation over loans Peña received from Ueno Bank to finance its construction while he was president. According to the prosecution’s indictment, the bank granted Peña two simultaneous loans in May 2024 totaling 3,548 million guaraníes, roughly US$577,000.
Monthly installments amounted to 239 million guaraníes, about US$39,000, equivalent to about six times his presidential salary, according to the document.
To build the residence, Peña reportedly signed a US$900,000 contract with the company Gómez Abente SA, with a planned execution period of 23 months, although the works were completed in less than a year, Última Hora reported. That newspaper noted that in one of his asset declarations, Peña listed a total value of about 7,750 million guaraníes, roughly US$1.24 million, for the property, including the land, building, equipment and furniture.
The residence had drawn scrutiny before the banking crisis. In January 2025, Peña responded to reports about his assets by saying that he and his wife had worked their whole lives.
“I consider myself an honest, hardworking person,” he said at the time in a press conference.
Paraguay’s prosecutors announced Monday that they are in contact with authorities in the United States, Argentina and Luxembourg to locate possible assets of Peña and other individuals and companies investigated in the Ueno case. The efforts cover those involved who may hold assets abroad, the international affairs prosecutor said, without providing details about specific people or companies.
The prosecutor said U.S. authorities had offered to help identify case-related assets within their financial system.
He clarified, however, that he had not discussed with the U.S. Department of Justice whether the U.S.
government plans its own investigation into Ueno.
