The fugitive received the plane along with “Mecafé” in exchange for the contract for the San Isidro bridge over the Lempa River.
Former President Mauricio Funes yesterday collected the seventh arrest warrant, this time the Attorney General’s Office charged a new case of alleged corruption when he received a plane from a Guatemalan businessman in exchange for giving him a millionaire contract to build the San Isidro bridge over the Lempa river.
Attorney General Raúl Melara reported on Twitter of the new arrest warrant against Funes, a justice fugitive and asylum seeker by the Daniel Ortega regime in Nicaragua.
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In addition to Funes, arrest warrants were issued against the friend of former governor José Miguel Antonio Menéndez Avelar (Mecafé) and the legal representative of the Guatemalan company Servicios Calificados de la Construcción, SA (SERDELCO SA) Jaime Ramón Aparicio Mejía, of Guatemalan descent.
Aparicio has also been involved in corruption in Guatemala, being extradited from Argentina, where he had led another network of alleged bribes in the “Construction and Corruption” criminal case.
The Attorney General’s Office pointed out that Funes is accused of a new act of corruption in the award of the bridge construction project “Construction of San Isidro Bridge over Lempa River (kilometer 75.5 LIB31N) La Libertad -Chalatenango “, a trial that began in March 2013 at the Ministry of Public Works.
Funes responded on his Twitter account, denying the tax allegations. “That I am the owner of a King Air plane that, according to the FGR, was delivered by the businessman as payment for the bridge construction contract. If he has none of that, the accusation goes no further than a vulgar room or a smokescreen to favor Bukele’s government, ”he tweeted.
According to the investigation, the construction of the bridge was considered by that ministry to be “ of great importance ” to provide better road flow to the southwest zone with the north zone of the country, as it will serve as the municipality of San Pablo Tacachico, the department of La Libertad, would link up with the Nueva Concepción, in Chalatenango. The contract for the bridge was $ 8,487,716.94.
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Likewise, the tax investigation revealed that Aparicio Mejía Funes Cartagena and Menéndez Avelar “donated the aircraft with the records -Beechcraft King Air 90- TG ADL- as a gift with the aim of being favored in the award of the contract.
According to the prosecution, it was proven that the use and possession of the plane was shared by Messrs. Funes Cartagena and Menéndez Avelar as the gift was for both, who used it between 2013 and 2016 for family trips to the United States, Costa Rica , Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and they even rented it for $ 1,300.00 an hour.
The Special Anti-Money Laundering Unit has confirmed that the following crimes will be attributed to Funes and Menéndez Avelar in the retrial: special cases of money and asset laundering; while active bribery for the Guatemalan Aparicio Mejía.
Funes is said to have used the plane on 16 flights with six destinations to the United States, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, between March 28, 2013 and October 31, 2014. While Mecafé is said to have used 47 flights with seven destinations. : El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and the United States, from June 27, 2013 to September 13, 2016.