President Santiago Peña attributed the attention surrounding the Comptroller General’s Office audit of the Superintendency of Banks both to commercial disputes that reached Congress and to economic and political interests behind headlines in some newspapers. Paraguayan media reported his remarks after he spoke with journalists on September 30, during the inauguration of the Palace of Justice in Fernando de la Mora.
Peña said the audit is a routine procedure and part of the Comptroller General’s Office’s work at institutions, and called for agencies to be able to operate without interference. The Superintendency of Banks is part of the Central Bank of Paraguay and supervises the banking system.
Explaining why the case drew attention, Peña said commercial disputes in one sector had reverberated in Congress and the press. He also said a subject featured in newspaper headlines does not always appear because of its news value, and that political or economic interests may be behind it. This was the president’s assessment; the sources provide no evidence to substantiate it.
The remarks did not detail the audit’s scope, timeline or any findings. Peña reiterated that institutions should do their work, without specifying which commercial disputes or interests he was referring to.