Salvadoran ex-president Saca released after 10-year sentence for corruption
Elias Antonio Saca, the former president of El Salvador, has been published after serving a 10-year prison term for corruption.
Elias Antonio Saca, the former president of El Salvador, has been published after serving a 10-year prison term for corruption.
Article outline
- What happened
- Official response
- The details
- The bottom line
Key points
- Saca was first arrested during his son's wedding in 2016 and was sentenced to five years for embezzlement and another five years for funds laundering in September 2018.
- Saca, a businessman and radio broadcaster, served as president as part of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).
- His lawyer, Mario Machado, remarked the former president had served his sentence in full without receiving early-release benefits.
- A plea bargain allowed Saca to avoid a potential 30-year prison sentence.
- During the initial trial, prosecutors remarked Saca appropriated funds from the state budget for himself and others, including taking more than $7m for his former party.
Saca, 61, arrived at court to formally report his release on Thursday after fulfilling the terms of a plea accord in which he confessed to diverting and laundering more than $300m from public funds during his 2004 to 2009 administration.
His lawyer, Mario Machado, remarked the former president had served his sentence in full without receiving early-release benefits. Arrested at son's wedding.
In practice, a plea bargain allowed Saca to avoid a potential 30-year prison sentence.
Though a judge determined the second sentence to be part of his existing 10-year term, in 2019, the former president was discovered guilty of offering $10, 000 to a court employee to obtain information concerning a case against him.
Saca was additionally ordered to repay $260m to the state. He is one of four Salvadoran presidents who have faced corruption charges, including his successor Mauricio Funes. This person escaped to Nicaragua in September 2016 and died there in 2025.
Taken together, the developments around salvadoran ex-president Saca released after 10 point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.
