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- Paraguay’s former president Santiago Pena charged following banking scandal
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Get you up to speed: Paraguay’s ousted president charged over banking scandal
Former President Santiago Pena of Paraguay has been charged with breach of trust and administration for personal gain after being impeached related to the collapse of Ueno Bank, leaving nearly half the country without access to their savings. Pena spent the morning at the attorney general’s office in Asunción for questioning and is currently under house arrest.
Prosecutors have also requested pretrial detention for both Santiago Pena and Carlos Carvallo following charges of breach of trust and administration for personal gain. As of Saturday, the central bank reported that 1.2 million customers had received partial or full reimbursement of their insured deposits, while protests continued across Paraguay amid public anger and frustration over the ongoing situation.
Paraguay’s former President Santiago Pena has been charged with breach of trust and administration for personal gain following his impeachment over the Ueno Bank collapse, which has left millions unable to access their savings. In response to the ongoing crisis, newly sworn-in President Pedro Alliana has pledged to assist those affected, while demonstrations continue to escalate, with protesters demanding swift action and accountability.
What remains unclear — It is unknown how long it will take for all customers to receive reimbursement for their deposits.
Paraguay’s former president Santiago Pena charged following banking scandal
Economy|BanksParaguay’s ousted president charged over banking scandal
Santiago Pena was impeached over the collapse of Ueno Bank, which left millions unable to access their accounts.
Published On 7 Nov 20267 Nov 2026
Published On 7 Nov 20267 Nov 2026Paraguay’s former President Santiago Pena has been charged after spending the morning at the attorney general’s office in Asunción for questioning, a day after being impeached over his alleged involvement in a banking scandal that has left nearly half the country unable to access their savings.
The former president, who was placed under house arrest on Friday, was charged over the scandal. The Reuters news agnecy reported that Pena was charged with breach of trust and administration for personal gain.
The scandal centres on Pena’s ties to Ueno, a digital bank that grew rapidly during his presidency, partly through an injection of more than $800m in public funds, and attracted millions of customers.
The bank’s collapse has prompted days of protests across Paraguay, with thousands taking to the streets demanding access to their savings. Some demonstrations have turned violent, with protesters clashing with police.
Pena, who held a stake in Ueno’s parent company until March 2025, has denied wrongdoing, arguing that the bank’s problems were a regulatory matter.
What is Pena accused of?
Among the allegations against Pena are that he used his political influence to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds into Ueno while shielding the bank from regulatory scrutiny as concerns grew over its risky lending practices.
They point to his appointment of Carlos Carvallo, a former executive at the company that later became Ueno, as head of Paraguay’s central bank in 2023. On Saturday, Carvallo was charged with breach of trust, producing false public documents and administration for personal gain.
Pena is further accused of allowing Paraguay’s state pension fund to deposit $355m at Ueno, above legal limits.
Pena had offered his resignation on Thursday, but lawmakers rejected it and pressed ahead with impeachment proceedings to prevent him from having the political immunity he would have gained had he stepped down.
An arrest order was issued shortly after he was removed from office.
On Saturday, after announcing the charges, prosecutors are also seeking pretrial detention for both Pena and Carvallo.
Bank collapse sparks political crisis
The scandal erupted after regulators took control of Ueno on Tuesday over concerns about its solvency, leaving nearly three million people unable to access their savings or use their bank cards.
Paraguay’s central bank said Saturday that 1.2 million customers had already received partial or full reimbursement of their insured deposits.
But that has done little to quell public anger, with many still waiting for their money back. Some protesters have also expressed frustration over Pena’s replacement, Pedro Alliana, who belongs to the same conservative Colorado Party and is himself under investigation in connection with the bank’s collapse.
Alliana, who was sworn in as president on Friday, has pledged to help those affected.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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