Four former officials of Mauricio Funes confess that they received extra income and promise…

Four former officials of the government of the former president Mauricio Funes (2009-2014) admitted that they received extra income while they held public positions, aiming to avoid public scrutiny and a prison sentence. Therefore, after confessing before the judge, the former officials committed to return the public funds that were taken to pay their extra income.

These confessions occurred on November 30th during the preliminary hearing for the case of extra income in Funes’ presidential administration, which took place at the Third Instructional Court of San Salvador against 10 former officials of the former president.

The four former officials who confessed to receiving extra income are the former Minister of Finance, Carlos Cáceres, who will return $210,000; the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Hugo Flores, who committed to give back $174,000; the former Deputy Minister of Health, Violeta Menjívar, who will return $177,000, and the former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Erlinda Hándal, daughter of the late FMLN leader Schafik Hándal, who promised to return $162,000.

The four former officials admitted to the illegal receipt of public funds through an abbreviated process. The judge, upon the confession and commitment to return the illegally received money, decided to sentence them to three years in prison, which will be replaced by community service.

Meanwhile, six other former officials of Funes’ administration did not undergo the abbreviated process, mostly because they are fugitives abroad.

The only present individual was the former Deputy Minister of Labor, Calixto Mejía, who did not agree to the abbreviated procedure. Mejía was sent to trial by the court, as well as the other five absentees: the former Vice President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the former Minister of Public Works, Gerson Martínez, the former Deputy Minister of Environment, Lina Pohl, the former Minister of Agriculture and CEO, Guillermo López Suárez, and the former Minister of Justice and Public Security, José Manuel Melgar.

The Prosecutor’s Office accuses Mejía of illicitly appropriating $208,000 through extra income. Sánchez Cerén is accused of receiving $530,000 from the secret fund. Martínez is also accused of having received $290,000 in extra income, and Pohl is accused of receiving $177,000. López Suárez is accused of illegally receiving $565,000, and Melgar of $150,000.

«According to the indictment presented by the Attorney General of the Republic, the former officials unlawfully enriched themselves by taking a total of $2,643,000 from the State’s coffers, in the period from 2009 to 2014, using the concept of extra income, in which additional bonuses were granted on top of the monthly salary received by each official,» reported the Judicial Centers press office.