Elias Antonio Saca, the former president of El Salvador, has reportedly been released following the completion of a 10-year prison sentence tied to sweeping corruption charges. Saca's defense counsel, Mario Machado, asserted that the former leader served his term in full without utilizing any early-release provisions or benefits.

Saca, 61, allegedly appeared at a court on Thursday to formally document his release after ostensibly fulfilling the conditions of a negotiated plea deal. Under this arrangement, he had previously confessed to diverting and laundering upwards of $300 million in public funds throughout his administration spanning from 2004 to 2009.

The former executive was initially taken into custody in 2016 during his son's wedding festivities, subsequently receiving concurrent five-year sentences for embezzlement and money laundering in September 2018. The plea agreement strategically allowed Saca to circumvent a much harsher potential prison sentence of up to 30 years.

Compounding his legal troubles, Saca was convicted in 2019 of attempting to bribe a court employee with $10,000 in a bid to secure confidential information regarding an ongoing investigation against him, though the presiding judge incorporated this supplementary penalty into his active 10-year term.

Saca, who worked as a businessman and radio broadcaster before representing the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), was accused by prosecutors of appropriating state budget resources for personal enrichment and channeling funds directly to his former political party. Furthermore, the court mandated that he restitute $260 million to the state treasury.

Source: www.aljazeera.com