Bank collapse storm! Paraguayan President Peña was impeached and removed from office, placed under house arrest for breach of trust

Pena was ordered by prosecutors to remain under house arrest on suspicion of breach of trust and was deprived of the lifetime senatorial immunity granted to outgoing heads of state by the Constitution. (AFP)

The political tsunami set off by the collapse of Paraguay’s digital bank continues to expand. On the 6th, the Pakistani Senate voted unanimously to impeach President Santiago Peña with 44 votes without objection, officially removing President Santiago Peña from office. Pena was immediately ordered by prosecutors to be placed under house arrest on suspicion of breach of trust, and was deprived of the lifetime senatorial immunity granted by the Constitution to outgoing heads of state.

"Associated Press" reported that in the face of overwhelming calls for accountability, Pennia recently tried to resign on his own initiative in an attempt to retain the constitutional judicial umbrella after leaving office. However, Congress refused to accept his request to postpone the trial and moved forward with impeachment and voted unanimously. This move deprived Pena of his criminal protection. In addition to ordering the arrest of the former central bank governor appointed by him, prosecutors also sent officers to Pena's residence for home detention. He will be directly transferred to the economic crimes and anti-corruption department for trial.

The Pakistani prosecutorial unit has comprehensively expanded its investigation into the people behind the bank. In addition to indicting many core executives of the bank and detaining many directors, it has also conducted extensive searches of luxury homes and seized a large number of luxury cars and luxury assets. Members of Congress alleged that during his tenure, Pena was suspected of using political influence to put hundreds of millions of dollars in government funds and public pension funds into the bank illegally, and even allowed regulatory agencies to release high-risk internal loans, which was tantamount to using national tax dollars to protect his own business power.

Due to the bank's collapse, the assets of nearly 3 million depositors across Paraguay were frozen, and the livelihoods of nearly half of the country's population were greatly affected, sparking public dissatisfaction. During the Senate vote trial, a large number of angry people took to the streets of the capital Asunción to protest. The angry crowd surrounded the Congress, roaring and criticizing Penha for betraying the people's trust, demanding that the judicial authorities severely punish him to the end and put him directly in jail.

Reports pointed out that the incident also involved factional power struggles. Peña, a former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), came to power with the support of long-time former President Horacio Cartes. After taking power, Peña secretly cultivated his own financial power and tried to get rid of control. However, the Cartes camp seized on the bank fraud and instigated defections within the party to force the government. Core staff jumped ship one after another, so that he was instantly isolated and abandoned without a stable political team.

After Pena was dismissed from office, Vice President Pedro Alliana has been sworn in as president and will take over the remaining term until August 2028.

After former Paraguayan President Peña Pena was impeached and removed by the Senate due to a major bank collapse storm, Vice President Ariana was sworn in as interim president at the Congress in the capital Asuncion on November 6, 2026, taking over the country's power. (AFP)