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former president has been arrested over allegations of corruption which
has plagued his image since stepping down from office.
Antonio Saca
Antonio Saca, a former president of El Salvador has been arrested.
The man was arrested on Saturday on corruption charges alleging misuse of public funds.
This development was revealed by the attorney general’s office on Sunday.
According to Reuters, Saca, a businessman who ruled the small
Central American nation from 2004 to 2009, was detained Saturday night
during the wedding reception of one of his sons at a reception hall in
the capital.
He was arrested along with high-ranking former officials of his
government, including ex-communications minister Julio Rank and youth
minister Cesar Funes.
Several hours after the initial arrests, Saca’s former private
secretary Elmer Charlaix voluntarily surrendered to the police. He faces
charges of embezzling at least $18 million.
In addition to Saca, a total of six other suspects have been arrested, the attorney general’s office added in a post on Twitter.
In March, El Salvador’s supreme court ordered a civil trial of the
former president, as well as his wife, Ana Ligia de Saca, because he
could not explain how he acquired $5 million at the end of his term.
Saca, who also had his bank accounts and properties frozen, was
expelled from his political party, the conservative Nationalist
Republican Party (Arena), in 2009 due to the alleged irregularities.
In February, former president 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.
Funes, a former TV journalist, was leader of the leftist political party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.
In January, another ex-president of El Salvador and Arena leader,
Francisco Flores, died after suffering a stroke as he waited to face
trial over embezzlement charges.
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