President Santiago Peña once again adopted a provocative stance toward journalists who questioned him about his wealth growth, during his departure from the opening of the meeting of Interior and Security Ministers of Mercosur and Associated States, held on Friday, 29 May. The president stated that his assets "are fully transparent" and that account traceability information has been available since 2014, the year of his first sworn declaration filing. The review was conducted by the Comptroller General's Office (CGR), Paraguay's external oversight body responsible for auditing the management of public assets and resources.
Peña justified the exclusion of the period between 2017 and 2023 from the asset reconciliation audit, arguing that during that interval he worked in the private sector and did not hold public office. "Why would I be a politically exposed person if I didn't hold public office?" he asked. Paraguay's Financial Intelligence Unit, the Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes (Seprelad), designates former public officials as "politically exposed persons" and extends monitoring for two years after they leave office, precisely because of the risk that they may still exercise residual influence. The president defended his academic and professional background, citing his degree in economics, a master's degree from Columbia University in the United States, a scholarship from the Japanese government, and his tenure at the Ministry of Finance, the presidency of the Central Bank of Paraguay, and the International Monetary Fund.
When pressed by a journalist about the lack of traceability during that period, Peña took a challenging tone and suggested, without providing evidence, that the reporter might be receiving money from organized crime. "Are you willing to undergo an asset reconciliation audit? Because you handle a lot of information, right? We could presume that you, as a journalist, have obscure interests and are receiving money from organized crime," he stated. As an example, he cited the leader of the Clan Rotela, whom he described as someone "not very happy with the Government" and who could pay journalists to "attack the president," without presenting evidence for this suspicion.
Opposition legislators requested the Public Prosecutor's Office to conduct an accounting, financial, and tax audit of Peña's assets, as an expansion of a complaint filed seven months ago that, according to the lawmakers, has not progressed. The request seeks to determine whether there is correspondence between declared income and accumulated assets, as well as to compare variations with the Comptroller's report. Opposition legislators claim that Peña's wealth grew by 2,400% between 2017 and 2023, rising from G. 1,007 million to G. 23,024 million, although this figure has not been independently verified by the Comptroller's report.
Lawyer Felino Amarilla alleged "connivance" between the Comptroller General's Office and the president, a claim that does not constitute a formal finding by the oversight body. According to him, the 150-page report from the oversight body reveals that Peña submitted a clarifying note to the agency during the investigation, which he argued would be irregular. "This bilateral activity between the Comptroller and the President is outside the law," Amarilla stated, adding that the note does not amount to a formal rectification of a sworn declaration and that the Comptroller would only have legal authority to examine the case after the end of the presidential term, in 2028.
Amarilla also questioned the fact that the Comptroller did not include in its review the period during which Peña worked at Banco Basa and pointed to an omission in the asset declaration submitted to the TSJE during the 2023 candidacy: the president reportedly acknowledged afterward that he had failed to include an investment of 250 million guaraníes in Cementos Concepción (Cecon), a cement company linked to former president Horacio Cartes, a prominent Paraguayan businessman and political leader. The lawyer also mentioned the construction of a mansion in San Bernardino, financed through a US$600,000 loan from Ueno Bank, an institution that reportedly received US$800 million in state funds during the current administration, according to the complaint.