The Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice has ruled that there exists sufficient evidence to send former President Mauricio Funes to civil trial for illicit enrichment. According to the court, Funes could not sufficiently explain $600,000 in purchases and payments he made while president. Funes blasted the court saying that they had reached the decision prior to hearing any evidence. He was only given three days to respond to the charges and the court took less than 24 hours to reach a decision. It was an “arbitrary decision.”
The Probity section initially determined that Funes could not account for $728,000. However, the CSJ reduced the amount to $600,000. They based their decision on Funes’ declaration of his assets at the beginning and end of his term in office. He will be the first president brought to trial for illicit enrichment since the law was passed in 1959.
If the case moves forward and the court reaches a guilty verdict, Funes will not serve jail time as it is a civil case. I assume that he would be fined. The new Attorney General is responsible for deciding whether to prosecute Funes criminally.
It’s sad. Funes came into office in 2009 amidst such high expectations. He was a moderate who helped the FMLN win the presidency fifteen years after their first electoral competition in 1994’s election of the century. He was a person who I thought could work with those who considered themselves on the left and the right but not necessarily FMLN nor ARENA. Instead, he engaged in some real erratic behavior while president.
When I was in El Salvador last year, people speculated that he had a drinking problem. Others claimed the the “Friends of Mauricio” who helped him get elected were corrupt and had simply used him. Finally, others believed that he simply let power go to his head. I don’t know which explanation, if any, is true. When I asked why the FMLN didn’t turn against Funes (since so many hated him), I was told that the FMLN was afraid that his transgressions, while his alone, would undermine the party to which he did not belong. They were just going to wait out his presidency before going their separate ways.
Hopefully, the justice system manages the case against Funes better than it did the case against former President Francisco Flores. That case turned into a fiasco before his untimely death.
For some reason, however, I keep thinking that Flores and Funes are two of the least corrupt presidents of the last twenty-five years. Alfredo Cristiani, Armando Calderon Sol, and Tony Saca have to come in ahead of Flores and Funes, no? Maybe the courts are just starting with the small fish.
