Lawmakers are pursuing impeachment against Santiago Pena to deny him immunity from prosecution
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena and his associates were behind a massive Ponzi scheme that led to the collapse of one of the country’s largest banks, leaving nearly 3 million customers without access to their savings, Senator Esperanza Martinez has claimed to RT.
The scandal erupted earlier this week after the authorities intervened and ordered the dissolution of Ueno Bank, a rapidly expanding digital lender. Pena offered his resignation on Thursday, but lawmakers pressed ahead with impeachment proceedings to prevent him from gaining immunity from prosecution.
”It was a colossal fraud project, involving the president of the republic and his economic circle,” Martinez told RT on Thursday, accusing Pena’s associates of creating a network of more than 50 shell companies.
According to the senator, Ueno was virtually unknown in 2023 but expanded rapidly after Pena took office, allegedly benefiting from preferential treatment that helped it become one of Paraguay’s dominant lenders within three years.
Martinez alleged that the network of companies artificially inflated the bank’s financial standing through circular transactions, describing the arrangement as a Ponzi scheme, in which money from new investors is used to pay earlier ones rather than generate genuine profits.
The senator also outlined measures to compensate affected customers through a deposit guarantee fund established following the country’s banking crisis in the 1990s.
Under existing rules, eligible depositors can recover up to 75 monthly minimum wages, approximately $37,000, with payments normally beginning 15 days after the bank resolution process starts.
Emergency legislation has since been enacted to accelerate compensation, allowing customers to receive up to 40 minimum wages ($20,000) within 24 hours, with further payments covering the remaining guaranteed amount.
”We protected people so that they can have liquidity quickly, within no more than 24 or 48 hours,” Martinez said.
Pena, a former IMF economist, held shares in a company linked to Ueno until March 2025. His appointed central bank chief previously worked for the lender.
The collapse has prompted criminal charges against 27 bank officials and associates, while prosecutors have launched investigations into the handling of public funds and possible misconduct by government officials. Pena has denied wrongdoing.
