The newly removed president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, was arrested this Friday by the Police and transferred to house arrest, in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by the Prosecutor's Office against him in the context of the impeachment trial opened over the financial scandal related to Ueno Bank.
Prosecutor Cristian Benítez confirmed to the media gathered in the Chamber of Deputies that Peña must remain detained at his home until he is presented before the Prosecutor's Office and the Specialized Unit for Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption, which will carry out the following proceedings.
"We have the arrest order (...) and later the evidence that is available will be analyzed and then the criminal guarantees judge will determine where this person will be subjected throughout the process", the prosecutor advanced, who has said that it is a "difficult case".
In addition to the arrest warrant against the former president, the arrest of the former Minister of Economy and former 'number two' of Peña, Carlos Carvallo, is added, after the Police told the Paraguayan outlet 'ABC' that a delegation is looking for him in order to bring him before the Justice.
With the decision adopted, Peña has lost his status as an indicted senator as a life senator, after the Upper House approved his removal earlier this same Friday with a comfortable majority of 44 votes out of the 45 possible, since one of the senators did not attend the session.
The Senate resumed the impeachment trial against the former head of state, despite the fact that he had requested a 72-hour postponement, after a group of legislators from his own Colorado Party thwarted the Thursday session by leaving the chamber to prevent the vote.
After the final result became known, thousands of demonstrators, including affected savers, retirees and students who had been keeping uninterrupted vigil for hours in front of Congress, broke out in celebrations over Peña's removal.
The resignation of the head of state was directly linked to the collapse of Ueno Bank, a financial institution associated with Peña's former business partners, which was intervened by the Central Bank after its solvency fell below the minimum thresholds, which demonstrated its inability to guarantee the deposits of millions of clients.