Key facts
- Prosecutor Elena Fiore Franco said Peña was inside his home and made himself available for procedural purposes.
- Peña had about $1 million in shares of a company that became ueno's parent, Ueno Holding, disposing of them in April 2025.
- Peña appointed Carlos Carvallo Spalding, a former ueno CEO, to head the central bank, which later licensed ueno as a digital bank.
- An estimated $800 million to $860 million in state and pension funds were invested in ueno, according to the report.
- Opposition senator Rafael Filizzola called the case one of the biggest corruption scandals since Paraguay's return to democracy.
- Peña's attorney, Ricardo Preda, said Peña is pleading not guilty to the charges.
Paraguay's Congress impeached President Santiago Peña on Friday, November 6, and a public prosecutor said he was placed under house arrest minutes later. Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in as president during the proceedings.
Prosecutor Elena Fiore Franco told local media that Peña was inside his home and had voluntarily allowed officers to enter. "It has been established that he is indeed inside his home. He voluntarily allowed officers to enter and made himself available for all procedural purposes," she said.
The impeachment followed the collapse of digital bank ueno, which the central bank placed into resolution on November 3 after finding it had breached minimum solvency requirements. The move froze the accounts of 2.9 million people, about 60% of Paraguay's adult population, who could no longer use their money even for basic purchases.
Protests spread across the country, some involving violent clashes with police. Retail sales fell by as much as 80% as much of the population could not access their own money.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into Peña on Thursday, November 5, on suspicion of illicit enrichment, money laundering and influence peddling. Peña had tried to resign on Thursday in an attempt to retain the special jurisdiction afforded to former presidents, who become senators for life in Paraguay, but lawmakers did not accept the resignation, leaving him subject to the ordinary courts.
Peña had about $1 million in shares he bought in 2019 in a company that would become Ueno Holding in 2022, the parent of the conglomerate that controlled ueno Bank. He disposed of the shares in April 2025 and said he had bought them purely as an investor.