Paraguayan President Peña impeached and dismissed over 'corruption allegations'... Become a suspect

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, who announced his resignation due to suspicions of involvement in banking corruption, was eventually removed from office through impeachment by the National Assembly.

According to local media outlets ABC Color and AFP on the 6th (local time), the Paraguayan Senate conducted an impeachment trial against President Peña with 44 out of 45 lawmakers in attendance, and unanimously decided to remove the president from office.

In Paraguay, impeachment trials are decided by a vote in the Senate. If the House of Representatives passes a resolution on impeachment, the Senate makes the final decision. The Senate is taking over the role of Korea's Constitutional Court.

With this, President Peña became the second president in Paraguay to be impeached, following former President Fernando Lugo (2008-2012). This is the first time in Paraguay's constitutional history that an impeachment bill has been unanimously passed by the members present in the Senate and House of Representatives, leading to a decision on dismissal.

With the Senate's decision to remove him from office, President Peña cannot avoid criminal prosecution. This is because, with this impeachment, he no longer has the lifetime senatorship and immunity granted to former presidents. When the dismissal was decided, the Paraguayan prosecutor's office issued an arrest order to the police and began recruiting Peña.

With Peña's dismissal, the remaining term (August 2028) will be filled by Vice President Pedro Aliana. According to the Paraguayan Constitution, if a vacancy occurs after the presidential term has exceeded three years, the vice president will succeed for the remainder of the term through an acting system rather than an early presidential election. Peña took office in August 2023 and served for approximately three years and three months.

The sudden downfall of Peña, who was one of the leaders of South America's 'Blue Tide' (right-wing ruling wave), was due to his involvement in corruption at an insolvent bank. Not only was he dismissed from office four days after the bank's bankruptcy was decided, but he was also reduced to a suspect.

He was driven into a political crisis when Ueno Bank, which had enjoyed success under the Peña administration, became insolvent and went bankrupt. Ueno Bank started out as an unknown fintech company in 2021, but grew into a large digital bank under suspicion of protection from the current administration.

Immediately after taking office, President Peña has been suspected of selecting a former Ueno Bank member as central bank president and having the government inject a huge amount of public funds into the bank.

When Ueno Bank entered bankruptcy proceedings and deposit accounts were frozen, the Peña government responded in its own way by accepting the resignation of Central Bank President Carvallo and arresting six bank executives, but it failed to quell the angry public sentiment of depositors and citizens whose assets were tied up.