Former Salvadoran diplomat convicted of embezzlement

A court in the Salvadoran capital sentenced retired Colonel Sigifredo Ochoa Pérez to eight years in prison on Tuesday for the crime of embezzlement by appropriating more than $40,000 when he served as El Salvador’s ambassador to Honduras between 2004 and 2009.

According to the prosecution of the case, the retired military officer and the former Minister Counselor of the embassy in Honduras, Walter Alfredo Anaya, drew up two lease contracts for the building where the diplomatic headquarters in Tegucigalpa operates for an amount of 107,000 dollars, which were paid with funds of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The accusation details that one of the contracts was for $2,000 per month and the other for $3,000. The surplus, which was 800 dollars, was received by Ochoa Pérez. When he left office, the money continued to be received by former Minister Counselor Anaya, indicates the prosecution.

The irregularity was noticed when the new ambassador took office and reported it to the Salvadoran Foreign Ministry.

“We are pleased with the decision, which has been based on the evidence that has been presented by the fiscal entity. It was proven that Mr. Ochoa Pérez had embezzled the amount of 41,040 dollars when he was the ambassador of El Salvador in Honduras, ”said the prosecution.

Although the Court found the retired colonel guilty of appropriating state money, he was not civilly sentenced to return the money, since the owner of the property returned the $107,000 that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador had paid him in excess. .

During the entire judicial process, the soldier remained at home with alternative measures to detention, but upon hearing the sentence he was handcuffed and taken to jail.

Ochoa Pérez was also a deputy in the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly between 2012 and 2015 under the banner of the right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena).

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