El Salvador court convicts ex-president of illicit enrichment

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A court in El Salvador found ex-President Tony Saca guilty and his wife, Ana Ligia de Saca, guilty of illicit enrichment Tuesday and ordered them to repay the government $4.4 million.

The ruled that Saca could not explain the origin of $6.5 million in income he made while president. Saca will also be barred from holding public office for 10 years.

Saca is already serving a 10-year prison sentence for corruption and has already been ordered to return some $260 million to the state.

Saca was convicted on those charges in September 2018 after pleading guilty in connection with the diversion of more than $300 million from government coffers to benefit of his businesses and third parties, becoming the first Salvadoran ex-president found guilty of corruption.

Saca, 54, was president from 2004 to 2009 and was arrested in October 2016.

Two other presidents have also been accused of corruption. Francisco Flores, who was president in 1999-2004, died in 2016 while awaiting trial under house arrest. Mauricio Funes, who held the top office in 2009-2014, fled to Nicaragua where he was granted asylum, allowing him to avoid facing trial back home.

Source: AP