A Paraguayan judge ordered preventive arrest for former President Santiago Pena, formally accused of breach of trust and administration for his own benefit in the event of Ueno Bank’s bankruptcy.
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07/11/2026
by
Lusa
Ujudge of Paraguay today ordered preventive arrest for former President Santiago Pena, who was formally accused by the Paraguayan public prosecutor of breach of trust and administration for his own benefit, in the framework of the investigation of Ueno Bank’s bankruptcy.
“The citizen [Santiago Pena] is subject to the figure of the preventive arrest,” said the judge of the economic crime court Humberto Otazú, advancing that Pena “abstained from making statements” during the judicial hearing.
The judge ordered the former President, 47 years old, to remain held in the premises of the Presidential Escort Regiment, to be taken on Friday when a arrest warrant was executed after Santiago Pena was relieved of office by the Paraguayan Senate for “bad performance of functions”.
According to the prosecutor’s accusation, Pena “interceded in the placement, and permanence of important sums of money from public entities” in Ueno Bank.
Paraguay went into crisis after the Central Bank (BCP) ordered the resolution of Ueno Bank, an institution with 2.94 million clients in a country of 6.1 million inhabitants, which received millions of public coffers during the mandate of the now former President of Paraguay.
This was added to the concern of thousands of savers who reported not having access to their resources, including 32,000 pensioners from the Social Security Institute (IPS), one of the country's main pension funds.
In the Ueno Bank investigation, the public prosecutor accused 27 other people, including Miguel Vasquez, one of the bank's founders.