(Refiles to add more publication codes)
By Daniela Desantis
ASUNCION, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Paraguay’s political crisis deepened on Wednesday as opposition lawmakers pressed ahead with efforts to impeach President Santiago Pena, whom they blame for the crisis triggered by the collapse of digital lender ueno that left millions of customers unable to access their accounts.
Thirty-five lawmakers submitted impeachment articles in the 80-seat lower house on Wednesday and asked congressional leaders to convene an extraordinary session on Thursday to debate Pena’s future.
Opposition lawmakers accuse Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to the handling of the bank’s collapse.
Pena has not publicly addressed the impeachment push and the presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a social media post on Wednesday, the president urged political leaders to prioritize the interests of depositors and said those responsible for irregularities would face justice “without exceptions.”
Pena, a conservative economist who took office in 2023, was a shareholder until March last year in Grupo Vazquez, which controls ueno. Ueno is a digital lender that grew quickly from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank, now administering close to $850 million in public funds.
Paraguay’s central bank intervened in ueno after determining that it had breached minimum solvency requirements, setting off a crisis that has left the company’s roughly 3 million customers, in a country of 6.5 million people, unable to access accounts.
“Never before has anyone harmed 3 million people in a single day in the Republic of Paraguay, and you achieved it, Mr. President,” opposition lawmaker Rocío Vallejo told a congressional session before presenting the accusation against Pena.
The crisis has become a serious challenge to Pena’s administration, undermining Paraguay’s hard-won reputation as a stable destination for foreign investment, especially from neighboring Brazil.
The fallout forced the resignation on Tuesday of the central bank chief and resulted in the detention of eight ueno executives. Prosecutors issued arrest warrants on Tuesday and the executives later turned themselves in, while courts ordered their assets frozen as the investigation widened.
Ueno has made no public statement on the issue, and it did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Paraguay’s opposition remains short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance impeachment proceedings, it has secured the backing of several dissident members of the ruling Colorado Party.
Several banking apps experienced outages on Wednesday, adding to concerns about confidence in Paraguay’s financial system. The Association of Banks of Paraguay (Asoban) said lenders were working to absorb a surge of customers shifting their accounts from ueno and said the banking system “continues to operate normally.”
(Reporting by Daniela Desantis in Asunción and Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )
Comments