Asunción (Paraguay) (AFP) - The Central Bank of Paraguay this Monday expanded the return of deposits from the collapsed Ueno Bank, while the prosecutor's office announced efforts with the United States, Luxembourg and Argentina to track possible assets and funds diverted in the scandal that caused the fall of President Santiago Peña.

First modification: 11/09/2026 - 20:50 Last modification: 11/09/2026 - 23:31

The Central Bank intervened Ueno Bank on November 3 due to solvency problems. Peña was removed three days later in a Senate impeachment trial and placed in preventive detention. His former vice president, Pedro Alliana, took over as the new president.

The prosecution pointed out that "work is being done to locate and secure assets abroad, in order to repatriate them and compensate the victims" of the fall of the digital bank Ueno Bank that affected some three million savers, half of the population of Paraguay.

"To this end, contact is maintained with authorities in Luxembourg and Argentina, and the Department of Justice of the United States of America offered its collaboration," the public ministry said in a statement.

Since Thursday, nearly 1.2 million people recovered a total of $168 million, according to data from the Central Bank.

This Monday, customers with deposits greater than that amount began to receive advances of up to $20,000, as well as those who maintain debts with the bank, whose overdue installments are deducted.

However, the guarantee fund will not cover refunds greater than $36,000 per account, which generates uncertainty regarding the destination of public funds that were in Ueno, such as those of the Social Security Institute, which manages retirements.

"Santi Peña left, Alliana remained, we are confident that he will take action on the matter and remove all the criminals who stole our retirement contributions," María Fernandez, 62, told AFP during a teacher protest on Monday in Asunción.

Although the new president was denounced in the same case as Peña for alleged links with Ueno, Alliana was not charged and the Chamber of Deputies gave up impeachment.

The prosecution accuses Peña of having used his influence to favor Ueno Bank, a digital bank that was barely three years old, since he had up to 2,025 shares in the group that controlled the institution.

He is accused of fattening the bank with millions in public funds, and of hiding or minimizing his financial problems despite being alerted to irregular loans and risks of insolvency.

Vault in Peña's house

Prosecutors are trying to open a vault discovered on Sunday during a raid on Peña's summer residence in San Bernardino, about 50 km from Asunción.

"We could not finish the work we were doing precisely because we found a security vault" of "high complexity," prosecutor Silvia González said at a press conference on Monday, noting that they will return to the place with the "corresponding device" to open it.

Investigators are considering asking for the collaboration of Peña's wife, Leticia Ocampos, to unblock her, prosecutor Christian Benítez explained to the newspaper ABC. They also evaluate a controlled detonation.

The mansion was partially financed with loans from Ueno, whose monthly payments, according to the investigation, were equivalent to six times Peña's presidential salary.

The prosecution is pursuing two cases in parallel: the one investigating Peña and the former president of the Central Bank Carlos Carvallo for their links with Ueno and the one investigating the directors of the bank itself, eight of whom are detained.

On Monday afternoon, a Ueno Bank headquarters was raided in search of physical and digital documents and accounting records.

protests

Hundreds of people mobilized in Asunción on Monday in two parallel marches.

Workers from the numerous companies of the Vázquez group, owner of Ueno, which employs around 6,000 people, demanded that their accounts be unfrozen and that they be allowed to look for new jobs.

"I'm worried about making ends meet, not having enough to pay my little bills, my installments," Larisa Koenig, who until last week worked at the ITTI digital technology company, owned by the group, told AFP.

In parallel, teachers mobilized to demand the recovery of pension funds trapped in Ueno, in a protest called by unions that caused the suspension of classes.

Alliana met with the unions and was "quite collaborative and confident that the return of the amounts" of social security is possible, Rafael Resquín, President of the National Union of Educators, told AFP after the meeting.

Resquín pointed out that despite previous disappointments they will seek to give a "vote of confidence" to the new government, although he warned: "If that trust is broken we are going to take to the streets."

© 2026 AFP

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