Funes, who already has a 14-year prison sentence for having negotiated a truce with the gangs during his administration, was facing an accusation from the Prosecutor’s Office for not having declared an income of $271,857.49 that year. By not doing so he evaded payment of $85,157.25.
The decision of the San Salvador court handed down a six-year sentence “for the crime of tax evasion in the form of evasion,” according to what he indicated, although the Public Ministry had requested the maximum penalty: eight years in prison.
The Court also sentenced him to pay $200,449.52 in civil liability, an amount that included a fine and interest, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office.
An accounting financial expertise revealed that Funes evaded taxes with cash deposits, credit cards, vehicle purchases, weapons, and maintenance services for these, since he was unable to justify the legal origin of the resources.
The expertise also pointed out that Funes received 80 firearms as a donation that were declared with an economic value of one dollar, but after an audit it was determined that their price amounted to more than 215,000 dollars.
According to the criminal process, there were four notifications by the Ministry of Finance to the former president where they asked him to explain the origin of the questioned funds, but Funes did not justify them.
The 64-year-old former president ruled El Salvador from 2009 to 2014, lives in Nicaragua under the protection of President Daniel Ortega, who in 2019 granted him nationality to avoid his extradition. He was not present at the trial that was installed on Tuesday nor did he appoint a defense attorney, but he was assigned one ex officio to be able to continue with the process in the absence of the accused, thanks to a criminal reform of September 2022.
Funes is the second former Salvadoran president convicted of violating the law during his tenure (2009-2014). The previous one was Tony Saca, who governed from 2004 to 2009 and who in September 2018 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the diversion of more than 300 million dollars from state coffers.
FUENTE: Associated Press
