Paraguayan prosecutors charged former president Santiago Pena and placed him into custody on Saturday. The action followed a banking crisis that cut millions of people off from their money and sparked major street protests.
Pena is Paraguay’s youngest-ever president. The Senate removed him from office on Friday, just three days after the collapse of a leading bank linked to his business interests.
Pena had offered to resign. Lawmakers chose to impeach him instead, stripping him of the legal immunity he would have kept by stepping down voluntarily.
He was brought before prosecutors on Saturday and charged with breach of trust and mismanagement for personal gain.
Judge Hernan Otazu told reporters after a hearing that he ordered the former president into pre-trial custody. Pena went back to the Asuncion facility where he was taken after his removal on Friday.
The indictment states that between 2023 and 2026, Ueno Bank received deposits and loans from public and pension entities. Prosecutors claim the institution also granted loans irregularly to companies linked to the bank’s economic group.
Pena faced questioning for roughly three hours regarding his ties to Ueno Bank. The digital-first fintech company holds accounts for nearly half of Paraguay’s population of 6.5 million.
The 47-year-old economist previously owned shares in Ueno Holding, the controlling company of the bank, but stated he sold them last year.
Prosecutors requested the freezing of assets belonging to Pena and former Central Bank president Carlos Carvallo. Carvallo faces the same offenses.
Judge Otazu said Pena declined to make a statement during the hearing. The former leader spent Friday night in custody after police arrested him within an hour of his Senate impeachment trial.
Protesters gathered outside his home and near the prosecutor’s office, demanding he face imprisonment in a regular facility.
Former vice president Pedro Alliana replaced Pena in office. Alliana promised not to abandon the nearly three million depositors and pensioners affected by the bank failure.
Citizens rejoiced on the streets of Asuncion over Pena’s ouster. News that Alliana belongs to the same right-wing Colorado Party angered some demonstrators.
The collapse of Ueno rocked the nation after the Central Bank seized control over solvency fears. Thousands took to the streets demanding their money back, while the Central Bank began making advance payments to an unspecified number of depositors.
Juan Pablo Segura, US assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, wrote on X on Saturday that Paraguay remains a strategic partner and ally of the United States. He stated Washington looks forward to working with Alliana, who will serve out the remainder of Pena’s term until 2028.
