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El Salvador ex-officials under investigation in $184 mln corruption case

Санчес Серен/Sanchez Ceren

El Salvador authorities have arrested 20 former officials and two local businessmen on charges of embezzling $184 million from the state during the rule of ex-President Sanchez Ceren.

Reuters reports with reference to the attorney general’s office of El Salvador.

Under investigation are two of Sanchez Ceren’s former presidential aides: Manuel Arturo Ayala and Jorge Antonio Revelo, as well as former treasurer Daysi Armida Diaz.

Among the defendants in the case is also a local businessman Alexander Benitez. According to the investigation, the stolen money was sent to the accounts of Benitez’s companies.

Recall, in July, ex-president Sanchez was put on the international wanted list. Ceren is suspected of money laundering and illicit enrichment from 2009 to 2014, when he served as Vice President of El Salvador.

Sanchez Ceren was president from 2014 to 2019