Senator Rafael Filizzola said President Santiago Peña’s government showed an “absolute lack of control” and acted as if it needed to “steal with both hands” before leaving power in 2028. He highlighted the fact that the Social Security Institute (IPS) had admitted exceeding the deposit limit at Ueno Bank and criticized the lack of an institutional response.
Filizzola said the impression of impunity was not limited to IPS funds and cited other cases, including that of former Secretariat for Money Laundering Prevention (Seprelad) head Óscar Boidanich under Horacio Cartes’s government, as well as complaints concerning Itaipú purchases and Peña’s assets.
According to Filizzola, IPS exceeded the 10% limit on deposits at a single financial institution and was forced to withdraw the excess. He said Ueno Bank, which reportedly had a former business relationship with Peña and began growing during this administration, held more than US$800 million in state funds: US$300 million from IPS and at least US$500 million from other state entities. These figures are the senator’s statements, not independently verified data.
Filizzola also criticized the silence of bodies such as Parliament and the Comptroller General’s Office regarding the allegations and expressed concern about business dealings by the group associated with Ueno in other areas, including the 5G network tender.
Among the cases he cited, Filizzola said prosecutors had requested a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Boidanich in a case concerning the alleged concealment of reports about suspected money laundering linked to Darío Messer. Messer was convicted in Brazil for links to the money-laundering scheme known as Operation Car Wash.
Regarding a complaint about Peña’s assets, Filizzola said the criminal case was heading toward dismissal and that the Comptroller reportedly found no inconsistencies without examining the 2017–2023 period, when Peña was outside public office. The report says Peña declared a mansion in San Bernardino valued at US$900,000; it also mentions an alleged Ueno loan and the absence of title to the land.
That week, prosecutors dismissed a lawmakers’ complaint over alleged overpricing in Itaipú’s purchase of school furniture during Justo Zacarías Irún’s administration. The report said Kamamya S.A., a bedsheet supplier, won a US$32 million tender and belongs to businessman Long Jiang. It also reported that Jiang lent his private plane to Peña before his election and to Alliana; a vehicle from one of Jiang’s companies ended up with Real Viviendas EAS, in which Peña is a shareholder.