Paraguay's President Peña resigns and faces impeachment and criminal inquiry over Ueno Bank collapse

Santiago Peña stepped down as Paraguay's president on Thursday and became the subject of a criminal inquiry tied to the failure of Ueno Bank, a digital lender with links to him, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by PBS NewsHour.

The lower chamber backed impeachment 78 to 0 and forwarded the matter to the Senate, per the AP. Accounts of the sequence differ. The AP placed the vote minutes after Peña's announcement, whereas BBC News said he quit after the chamber had voted. Congress was due to decide Friday whether to accept the resignation, which would let Vice President Pedro Alliana be sworn in with no Senate trial, the AP said.

Opposition senators are pressing for removal instead. According to the AP, they contend that resigning would leave Peña able to claim a lifetime Senate seat whose legal shields might stop him from being prosecuted. Attorney General Emiliano Rolón Fernández has launched three probes, which will examine allegations against Peña and other officials, how regulators supervised the bank and handled its failure, and why state money was deposited there.

BBC News reported that Peña, who until last year was a shareholder in the firm that owned the bank, denies wrongdoing. In a video on X he said, "I want to apologize to the people if I have failed them at any point," according to the AP. He also pledged to cooperate with investigators.

Former President Horacio Cartes, who leads the governing Colorado Party and mentored Peña, endorsed impeachment, the AP reported, saying the party would not stand with "the plundering of public and private funds and pensioners' money."

BBC News said Ueno reports some three million customers, about 60% of the country's adults. The AP reported that roughly $800 million of its deposits were public money, including pension and health system funds. Central bank inspectors had flagged large loans to firms connected to the owners, and once the accounts were corrected, capital dropped under half the required level, the AP said. Regulators took over the bank Tuesday, shutting its app, cards and branches.

A law approved Wednesday obliges a state guarantee fund to pay back depositors within five business days, according to the AP. Each customer is insured up to about $36,000, which the central bank estimates will make roughly 97% of account holders whole. BBC News reported that the central bank has a new president.

On Thursday a judge sent six Ueno executives to jail ahead of trial, among them founder Miguel Vázquez and bank head Juan Manuel Gustale, the AP reported. Altogether, 27 people linked to the bank face accusations of attempted fraud and breach of trust; Gustale's lawyer rejected the charges. The Labor Ministry puts affected jobs at about 7,000, and thousands marched in Asunción this week.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/803