Paraguayan authorities raiding the luxury residence of former President Santiago Peña uncovered a hidden vault behind a false wall, fitted with a sophisticated Israeli-made security system featuring iris-recognition technology—a discovery that deepens the scandal over the collapse of Ueno Bank and the loans that financed the property.
The vault, found Sunday at Peña’s vacation home in San Bernardino, roughly 50 kilometers from the capital, remained sealed Monday after investigators managed to breach only the first of two security doors.
Prosecutor Christian Benítez said the compartment requires multiple verification methods—facial or iris recognition, fingerprint scanning, a numeric code, and multilock keys—and that authorities were weighing options including a controlled detonation or bringing the former first lady to attempt biometric access.
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The Israeli origin of the security system was reported by Paraguayan outlet ABC Color. The vault sits beneath a swimming pool, complicating any explosive entry, and investigators have not ruled out that it functioned as a panic room rather than a conventional safe.
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The search is part of a criminal probe into Peña’s financial dealings with Ueno Bank, the digital lender whose insolvency triggered a political and financial crisis in the landlocked nation of roughly 6.5 million people. Prosecutors allege Peña, who was impeached and removed from office Friday, encouraged a breach of trust and improperly managed assets for personal gain . He denies wrongdoing.
At the center of the investigation are two Ueno Bank loans totaling approximately $547,500 that Peña obtained in May 2024—while serving as president—to finance construction of the residence. The combined monthly payments of about $36,900 were more than six times his presidential salary of roughly $5,850, according to prosecutors . The property, built between 2024 and 2025, has an estimated market value of $2 million, though Peña declared it at approximately $1.2 million.
Ueno Bank was intervened by Paraguay’s central bank last week after insolvency left nearly three million customers—close to half the population—without access to their deposits. The bank held more than $800 million in government funds, and eight of its executives have been jailed . Peña, who held shares in the bank’s controlling company until last year, is accused of channeling millions in state deposits to the institution while concealing or downplaying its financial distress.
Peña, 47, was impeached by the Senate on Friday and ordered into pretrial detention at the Presidential Escort Regiment in Asunción on Saturday. Vice President Pedro Alliana assumed the presidency and announced Sunday that the government had begun reimbursing affected depositors, with about $158 million returned to 1.2 million customers so far.
The contents of the vault remain unknown. Prosecutors said they would return to the property to continue the search, while specialists assess how to breach the second door without damaging evidence or the structure.
