(CNN Spanish) –– The Attorney General's Office of El Salvador reported this Friday that during the government of former President Mauricio Funes (2009-2014) a little more than 45 million dollars in public funds were diverted in the project to build the El dam. Chaparral. Some of that money, according to authorities, allegedly ended up in the ex-president's accounts.
The Prosecutor's Office assures that two of the six accused in this case –– Leopoldo Samour, former president of the Executive Hydroelectric Commission, and Miguel Menéndez, promoter of Funes's candidacy for the presidency–– were key in the diversion of funds that ended in the accounts of the former Salvadoran president.
"In 2012, they acquired two façade companies in Panama," explained Germán Arriaza, director of the Anti-Corruption and Against Impunity Unit of the Prosecutor's Office, at a press conference.
Both Samour and Meléndez have rejected the accusations and have pleaded not guilty in the criminal proceedings.
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According to the Prosecutor's Office, Funes allegedly promoted an agreement with a construction company to pay 108.5 million dollars despite the fact that only 29% of the construction of the dam had been carried out. Of that amount, they say more than $ 45 million was embezzled.
"State money was destined for benefits to third parties," said Raúl Melara, attorney general of El Salvador, at a press conference. The Prosecutor's Office ratified this Friday the accusation in a court in San Salvador for crimes of embezzlement, money laundering and illegal groups against former President Mauricio Funes and five other people.
The former president, who has lived in Nicaragua since 2016, rejected the accusations. "Where is the evidence that I had money that was not mine and transferred it to companies that are not mine?" Funes defended himself on Twitter.
Funes argued that the accounts in which, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the money from the alleged bribe was deposited are not in his name. «I did not open them. The FGR has no evidence that the money deposited in them was mine. How can I move money from accounts that I am not the owner of? ", Said the former president in one of the tweets this Friday.
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The Prosecutor's Office assures that during the investigation it interviewed 70 witnesses and traced the money paid by the state to the construction company.
“Unfortunately, former President Funes is out of the country. He is Nicaraguan and the law prevents us from pursuing the process against him. It must wait, ”said Melara.
"No new evidence," said Funes, who has at least five arrest warrants in force in El Salvador for crimes related to corruption. In all of them he has pleaded not guilty and has attributed the accusations to political reprisals.