El Salvador frees former president Saca after 10-year corruption sentence
Elias Antonio Saca pleaded guilty to diverting and laundering more than US$300 million from the state budget during his 2004-2009 administration.
Elias Antonio Tony Saca, the former president of El Salvador, was released from prison on Thursday after serving a 10-year sentence for corruption, according to his lawyer Mario Machado. The former leader, 61, had pleaded guilty to diverting and laundering over US$300 million from the state budget during his 2004-2009 administration.
Saca's prison term was backdated to 2016, when he was arrested during his son's wedding. A plea deal reduced his potential 30-year sentence. Prosecutors alleged that Saca used state funds for personal gain and to benefit his allies, including by directing large sums of money to his political party. Saca, a businessman and radio broadcaster, served as president under the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).
Despite facing corruption charges, he was one of only four Salvadoran presidents to have encountered such allegations, with the others either fleeing the country or dying before their trials began.
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