Key facts
- Thirty-five lawmakers submitted impeachment articles against Pena in the 80-seat lower house on November 4.
- Opposition lawmakers accuse Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups tied to ueno's handling.
- Pena was a shareholder until March last year in Grupo Vazquez, which controls ueno, per Reuters.
- Paraguay's central bank intervened in ueno after finding it breached minimum solvency requirements.
- The central bank chief resigned on November 3 and eight ueno executives were detained after turning themselves in.
- Asoban said the banking system continues to operate normally as lenders absorb customers shifting accounts from ueno.
Thirty-five opposition lawmakers in Paraguay's 80-seat lower house submitted impeachment articles against President Santiago Pena on November 4, blaming him for the crisis set off by the collapse of digital lender ueno, Reuters reported. They asked congressional leaders to convene an extraordinary session on November 5 to debate Pena's future.
The lawmakers accuse Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups in the handling of the bank's failure. Pena has not publicly addressed the impeachment push, and the presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a social media post on November 4, the president urged political leaders to prioritize depositors and said those responsible for irregularities would face justice "without exceptions."
Pena, a conservative economist who took office in 2023, was a shareholder until March last year in Grupo Vazquez, which controls ueno. The digital lender grew from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank that now administers close to $850 million in public funds.
Paraguay's central bank intervened in ueno after determining it had breached minimum solvency requirements, leaving the company's roughly 3 million customers, in a country of 6.5 million people, unable to access accounts. "Never before has anyone harmed 3 million people in a single day in the Republic of Paraguay, and you achieved it, Mr. President," opposition lawmaker Rocío Vallejo told a congressional session before presenting the accusation against Pena.
The fallout forced the resignation on November 3 of the central bank chief and led to the detention of eight ueno executives. Prosecutors issued arrest warrants on November 3 and the executives later turned themselves in, while courts ordered their assets frozen as the investigation widened. Ueno has made no public statement and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The opposition remains short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance impeachment proceedings but has secured backing from several dissident members of the ruling Colorado Party. Several banking apps experienced outages on November 4. The Association of Banks of Paraguay (Asoban) said lenders were working to absorb a surge of customers shifting accounts from ueno and said the banking system "continues to operate normally."