El Salvador: New arrest warrant for ex-president Funes

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Prosecutors in El Salvador have issued another arrest warrant for former President Mauricio Funes, this time for alleged tax evasion.

The prosecutor’s office says Funes is accused of failing to declare about $270,000 and evading some $85,000 in taxes. Under Salvadoran law, tax evasion is punishable by six to eight years in prison.

The ex-president denied wrongdoing via Twitter, saying that “the idea is to accuse me of whatever to put me in prison.”

Since 2017, Funes has been in Nicaragua which granted him asylum.

A court previously convicted him of illicit enrichment, ordering him to return about $410,000 and barring him from public office for 10 years. He is also wanted on charges of money laundering, embezzlement, illicit association and bribery.

Funes has denied those charges as well.