Follow-Up: Prosecutors Open the Hidden Room at Peña's Mansion and Find It Empty, Calling It an Unused Panic Room
Paraguayan prosecutors on November 10 opened the reinforced hidden room behind a false wall at former President Santiago Peña's vacation home in San Bernardino and found it empty, with no cash or valuables inside. Prosecutor Silvia González said that, according to the technical explanation she had received, the space was a panic room meant to shelter people during a threat, and that it appeared new and not in use. Investigators had discovered the room during a search of the house on November 8; its armored door had multiple security measures, and prosecutors had considered asking Peña's wife to help open it with biometric recognition, or using a controlled detonation. Peña later identified, through his lawyer, where the security key was located, and investigators opened the door.
Around the opening, the asset hunt widened. Prosecutor Manuel Doldán told a press conference on November 9 that prosecutors were tracing funds moved abroad and were in touch with authorities in the United States, Luxembourg and Argentina to identify assets belonging to the individuals and companies under investigation, including Peña himself. Investigators the same day raided a Ueno Bank branch and seized documents related to Peña's investments, and also seized documents at the home of Carlos Carvallo, the former central bank chief who stepped down at Peña's request after Ueno's collapse and had formerly chaired the bank.
Peña has been charged with breach of trust and administration for personal gain, is being held in pretrial detention, and has pleaded not guilty, denying wrongdoing. The central bank took over Ueno Bank on November 3 over solvency problems; the digital bank's collapse froze the accounts of nearly three million customers, and Peña was then removed from office by the Senate. The San Bernardino house has been put in the charge of the state agency that administers seized and confiscated assets.
Source: Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraguay
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴拉圭前总统 Santiago Peña 的资料肖像。CC BY 4.0，经维基共享资源 / Former Paraguayan President Santiago Peña (file portrait). CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
