El Salvador Frees Ex-President Tony Saca After 10-Year Corruption Sentence

Former El Salvador President Elias Antonio “Tony” Saca has been released from prison after completing a 10-year sentence for embezzlement and money laundering involving more than $300 million in public funds.

Saca, 61, appeared at the Isidro Menéndez Judicial Centre in the capital, San Salvador, on Thursday, October 29, to formally notify the court of his release. He was accompanied by his lawyer, Mario Machado, and former presidential private secretary Élmer Charlaix, who was also convicted in the corruption case.

Machado told journalists that his client had completed the full sentence without receiving any early-release benefits.

“The 10 years were completed,” the lawyer said, adding that the defence had gone to court to formally report the release.

Saca was president of El Salvador between 2004 and 2009 under the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). He was arrested in October 2016 during his son’s wedding, alongside several former government officials.

In September 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement and another five years for money laundering after admitting to diverting and laundering more than $300 million from state funds during his administration.

The plea agreement reduced his potential prison term, which could have reached 30 years, in exchange for his confession and cooperation with prosecutors. Although the sentence was handed down in 2018, the time he had spent in detention since his 2016 arrest was credited towards the 10-year term.

During the proceedings, Saca acknowledged exploiting weaknesses in government oversight to move public money into private accounts. Prosecutors said the funds were used for personal purposes and to benefit political allies, including transfers of more than $7 million to his former political party.

He was also ordered to repay approximately $260 million to the state in connection with the public funds case.

Saca faced further legal proceedings after his main conviction. In 2019, he was found guilty of offering $10,000 to a court employee in exchange for information about a civil case against him. The additional sentence was incorporated into his existing prison term.

He was also convicted in a separate civil case involving unjustified increases in his personal wealth and was ordered to return millions of dollars to the state. In another case concerning funds from Taiwan, he was ordered to pay $6 million.

The former president’s release from prison does not automatically cancel the financial obligations imposed in separate court proceedings. El Salvador’s authorities have also pursued the recovery of assets linked to him.

In March 2026, a court ordered 25 properties, a vehicle and eight financial products linked to Saca to be transferred to state ownership. The assets were valued at approximately $9.6 million.

Saca is among several former Salvadoran presidents who have faced corruption allegations or convictions. His successor, Mauricio Funes, also faced corruption proceedings but fled to Nicaragua, where he died in 2025.

His release has renewed attention on the country’s efforts to recover public funds and hold former political leaders accountable for corruption committed while in office.