Paraguay President Santiago Pena resigns after ueno bank collapse

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena resigned on Thursday after the collapse of digital lender ueno, which left millions of customers unable to access their accounts and triggered protests and an impeachment effort in Congress.

In a video-recorded address, Pena said he acted with the country's stability, social peace and the need to preserve democratic institutions in mind. He is an ally of US President Donald Trump.

Pena stepped down after the opposition called an extraordinary session to begin filing an impeachment motion in Congress, and as protesters demanded his resignation. Earlier on Thursday, he lost backing from members of his own conservative party. Vice President Pedro Alliana is set to take office as his replacement.

Lawmakers had accused Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to ueno's collapse. The lender had grown quickly from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank administering close to $850 million in public funds.

Al Jazeera's Latin America editor Lucia Newman said Pena is accused of negligence at the very least and complicity in covering up that the bank was insolvent. She added that Congress was in session trying to impeach both the president and vice president, while people outside urged lawmakers not to accept the resignation because they want him tried and impeached.

Paraguay's central bank intervened in ueno after determining it had breached minimum solvency requirements. The crisis left roughly 3 million customers in a country of 6.5 million people unable to access their accounts.

Pena said his greatest wish was that the return of those funds be guaranteed, that the deposit guarantee fund fulfill its purpose, and that public funds and resources belonging to all Paraguayans be protected. Ueno has made no public statement on the issue.

Source: Al Jazeera.