Peña was ousted from the presidency about an hour beforehand in a unanimous Senate vote, with lawmakers citing questions over his previous hyperlinks to the collapsed digital financial institution ueno that had offered accounts for practically half of Paraguay’s inhabitants.
Though Peña supplied his resignation on Thursday, the Senate selected to finalise the impeachment course of slightly than settle for, and swiftly moved to put in his second-in-command, Alliana.
By the point of his arrest, dozens of protesters had gathered exterior Peña’s residence. Police put in a safety cordon across the property.
The turmoil started earlier this week when Paraguay’s central financial institution intervened in ueno, whose clients embrace many individuals who had not beforehand had entry to a checking account.
The financial institution had grown quickly since launching in 2021. However questions had emerged over ueno’s lending practices and its ties to Paraguay’s political and monetary elite – together with Peña, who till final 12 months was a shareholder in ueno’s holding firm, and the central financial institution chief Carlos Carvallo, who had headed ueno till 2023.
Prosecutors on Friday additionally issued an arrest warrant for Carvallo, who resigned earlier this week as authorities launched last-ditch proceedings to forestall the lender dissolving. Eight former ueno executives have already been detained.
Others from Peña’s interior circle additionally resigned, together with his inside minister, chief of employees and two advisers.
The impeachment expenses that led to his removing alleged that Peña had conflicts of curiosity, manipulated regulatory oversight, diverted pension funds and took part in an institutional cover-up involving the central financial institution.
Peña denied any wrongdoing and stated the affair was a regulatory subject. The central financial institution has denied any battle of curiosity, saying Carvallo recused himself from all selections associated to ueno.
FROZEN ACCESS TO FUNDS
The political disaster has spilled onto the streets, with demonstrators flocking to downtown Asuncion demanding accountability for ueno’s collapse and quicker compensation for depositors whose financial savings stay frozen.
Small teams of protesters gathered reverse the headquarters of the central financial institution on Friday, chanting “We wish our cash.”
