Ex-El Salvador president in jail awaiting trial

THE FORMER PRESIDENT of El Salvador, Francisco Flores, once believed to be on the run in Panama,( http://newsroompanama.com/news/panama/interpol-lists-refugee-in-panama-on-most-wanted-list)is behind bars, awaiting trial after the Supreme Court overturned a house arrest order.

The former leader of the now prominent opposition party Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena,) is in the Bartolinas prison in the Anti-Narcotics Division (DAN) of the National Civil Police (PNC).

Flores, president from 1999 to 2004, is accused of illicit enrichment, embezzlement and disobedience. The deputy director of the PNC, Howard Cotto, and disciplinary coordinator of the General Inspectorate of the PNC, Elisha Lewis, went to the home of Flores and took him to the DAN headquarters, located east of San Salvador.

This is the first time a president in El Salvador has been sent to jail, while a judicial process against him has been underway.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court reversed the decision of Judge Levis Italmir Orellana, who sent Flores to his home after arguing that there was no risk of evasion, although the politician was unsuccessfully sought by police for almost four months.

Flores’s arrest came after the former leader went to court to answer to the authorities, months after he was sought by Interpol , which even issued a red notice. The arrest warrant was issued by Interpol after former President Mauricio Funes announced the Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) of the US Treasury Department where millions of dollars of financial transactions between bank accounts linked to Flores and an Asian donor were discovered.
Tthe Legislature appointed a special committee to investigate the fate of at least $10 million donated to help victims of the 2001 earthquakes.

During a hearing with lawmakers months ago, the president admitted that he received more than $10million in donations, thanks to personal relationships. Flores, widely reported as having been seen in Panama with former Panama president Miraya Moscoso, was one of the main leaders of Arena and adviser to the presidential campaign of City Mayor Norman Quijano, who lost the elections in March.