The controlled detonation or the transfer of the former Paraguayan first lady, Leticia Ocampos, are some of the options considered by the Prosecutor's Office to access the secret vault found in the summer home in San Bernardino of former president Rodrigo Peña, detained over the weekend after the intervention of Ueno Bank.

First modification: 11/09/2026 - 19:58 Last modification: 11/09/2026 - 20:39

The agents sent to search the summer home of former Paraguayan president Santiago Peña, detained over the weekend for the investigation into the Ueno Bank disaster, found "a highly complex security vault" hidden behind a false wall, as confirmed this Monday by the Prosecutor's Office in a statement, after the local press reported the discovery. Although investigators were able to open the first door of the vault, they have not been able to get through the second, due to an Israeli security system equipped with iris recognition.

The authorities are not contemplating, "at the moment," transferring Peña to the vault to unlock the mechanism, but they are considering taking former first lady Leticia Ocampos to see if she can do so. "It is an option that we are handling. We believe that it is a slightly simpler possibility than an eventual transfer to the former president's place," said prosecutor Christian Benítez. Requesting support from other relatives of Peña may be another option, although those close to the former president are not obliged to collaborate in the proceedings.

The controlled detonation of access to the vault is also a card on the table "if there is no other way to open," Benítez explained.

To display this content from X (Twitter), you must allow audience measurement and advertising cookies.

Images of the raid released by the local press show on the lower floor of the house a wall made up of several panels measuring approximately one square meter. One of them, foldable, hid behind it a hallway with a door at the end.

The search of Peña's residence is part of the investigation against the former president "for the alleged commission of the punishable acts of breach of trust, as instigator, and administration for personal gain, as author," the Public Ministry said in a press release.

The crimes with which he is accused can be punished with up to ten years in prison in an aggravated modality, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation has led to searches at the homes of the accused executives and at facilities belonging to the Vázquez Group, owner of Ueno Bank, of which Peña was a shareholder until March 2025.

The summer residence in San Bernardino, valued at $2 million, was built between 2024 and 2025 with financing from Ueno, through a loan granted to Peña for monthly installments that exceeded six times the former president's salary.

The Prosecutor's indictment indicates that Ueno Bank would have granted Peña in May 2024 "two simultaneous loans" for 3,548,000,000 guaraníes (about $577,192 at the current exchange rate) intended "to finance the construction of his home in San Bernardino."

Furthermore, the Public Ministry's indictment explains that the former president "would have intervened in circumstances related to the placement, renewal and permanence of significant sums of money from public and pension entities" in the entity.

After being removed through a political trial, Peña was placed in preventive detention in the Presidential Escort Regiment under a regime of free communication, which implies that he can receive visitors and use the mobile phone.

Vice President Pedro Alliana replaced him as president.

Four prosecutors will reinforce the investigation

Four prosecutors from the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption (UDEA) will join the work teams investigating the Ueno Bank case, deputy prosecutor Nancy Salomón reported this Monday, during a press conference to discuss the progress of the investigations. Salomón stressed that more support prosecutors will be added as required by the progress of the case.

The spokesperson for the Public Ministry recalled that the proceedings are confidential, so not all the details of the case can be given.

Some 37 companies and around 35 natural persons have been linked to the investigation, a figure that may grow, as explained by prosecutor Francisco Cabrera, who explained that the investigation is advancing in four axes: determining the facts and those responsible, recovering assets, carrying out raids to gather documents and information and tracking the assets of people and companies.

Among the investigators' priorities is recovering the savings of the digital bank's clients. Deputy Prosecutor Manuel Doldán pointed out that experts are working to locate and secure assets abroad of those involved in the case, including those of former President Peña, in order to repatriate them and compensate the victims. To this end, contact is maintained with authorities in Luxembourg and Argentina.

The United States Department of Justice offered its collaboration. In fact, the new president of Paraguay, Pedro Alliana, had a phone call this Monday with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in which they expressed their willingness to "continue working together", according to a publication on the South American president's social networks, in which he indicated that he had been invited by Rubio to an "upcoming meeting", without providing more details.

Teachers protest over resources

The intervention of Ueno Bank, ordered last Tuesday by the Central Bank (BCP), has affected almost three million clients, ranging from ordinary people to State institutions, whose resources were frozen in the middle of the bank's resolution process.

The effects threaten to be worse for State institutions, which had some 800 million dollars deposited in the entity, mostly pension resources. Among the affected entities are the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the binational Itaipú dam and at least five retirement funds, one of them the Social Security Institute (IPS), in charge of managing the pensions of the majority of the country's workers.

The IPS, which in addition to pensions manages the health system, has about 355 million dollars in Ueno Bank, both in time and demand deposits, admitted its financial manager, Gladys Vera, which she said is equivalent to 9% of the state company's total investments in 14 banking entities.

Another of the affected pension funds, Caja Bancaria, would have some 186,250 million guaraníes (29.7 million current dollars) in the banking entity, according to a complaint filed with the Prosecutor's Office by a group of opposition legislators that cites local media.

Public sector teachers called for a protest this Monday to demand the return of resources from official entities deposited in Ueno Bank, including those from the Fiscal Fund, as the public retirement system is known, and from the IPS.

This is the first mobilization that the new Paraguayan president, Pedro Alliana, will have to face since he was sworn in on Friday.

With information from EFE and local media.

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.