The Public Prosecutor's Office has assigned economic crimes prosecutor Jorge Arce to investigate the complaint filed nearly eight months ago against President Santiago Peña for alleged illicit enrichment, money laundering, influence peddling, and abuse of power.
Arce was part of the team of prosecutors that, in June 2025, requested the dismissal of charges against former president and current leader of the National Republican Association (ANR), Horacio Cartes. After years of investigation, prosecutors Francisco Cabrera, Fernando Meyer, and Verónica Mayor concluded that no crime was committed in the accusations of illicit enrichment, smuggling, and asset laundering brought by former minister Arnaldo Giuzzio. The court accepted the request and closed the case amid strong questioning and speculation about the Public Prosecutor's Office's actions.
The complaint against Peña was filed on October 1, 2025, by opposition lawmakers: deputies Raúl Benítez and Johanna Ortega, and senators Adrián Vaesken, Rafael Filizzola, Rubén Velázquez, Esperanza Martínez, and Ignacio Iramain. The legislators pointed to an unjustified asset growth of 1,603%, the acquisition of properties without documentary support, and public contracts worth G. 992 billion with companies allegedly linked to the president.
At the time, the then-deputy prosecutor of the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Unit (UDEA), Soledad Machuca, requested an opinion from the Comptroller General's Office before deciding whether to formally open the investigation. The oversight body responded only last Monday, concluding that "no elements were identified that constitute an unreasonable or disproportionate increase in assets relative to the declarant's lawful income."
The Director of Sworn Statements, Armindo Torres, detailed that the analysis covered two periods. In the first, from 2014 to 2017, when Peña was a director of the Central Bank of Paraguay, no significant asset increase was found. The period from 2018 to 2023, during which the current head of state was out of public office and recorded growth of just over G. 22 billion, could not be verified by the Comptroller General's Office. The second stage examined was from the start of the presidential term until September 2025.
Regarding the USD 2 million mansion in San Bernardino, Torres stated that there are no irregularities in the construction based on the documents analyzed. The Comptroller General's Office requested information from the construction company Gómez Abente SA and the local municipality, which did not respond. The first payment, from April 2024, was made with a loan from ueno bank, and the second with the redemption of shares from ueno Holding. A third installment of USD 300,000 was still pending as of the closing of the opinion.