El Salvador Court Sentences Former President Antonio Saca to 10-Year Jail Term

22:35 GMT, 12 September 2018

Former El Salvador President Elias Antonio Saca was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement and money laundering charges involving more than $300 million of public funds, Reuters reported.

Sputnik

According to Reuters, Antonio Saca pleaded guilty to the chargers earlier this year hoping to reduce his prison term. Antonio Saca, 53, and other six former El Salvador high-level public officials were accused of diverting funds from the treasury to personal bank accounts to benefit individuals, companies connected to the former president and advertising for his Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.

Travel Ban Imposed on Ex-Peru President by Court Amid Corruption Probe

24 March 2018, 23:02 GMT

Antonio Saca, who was reportedly arrested during one of his sons weddings in 2016, was the president of the Central American country from 2004 to 2009 with the Nationalist Republican Alliance party.

In 2016, another former leader of El Salvador Mauricio Funes was also ordered to stand trial for more than $700,000 that he was not able to account for following his 2009-2014 term. Mauricio Funes is currently under political asylum in Nicaragua.

According to Reuters, El Salvador, which has refused to set up an international impunity commission as Guatemala did, has begun a crusade against corruption, but only in past administrations.