Latin America

EL SALVADOR / CORRUPTION



Marvin Recinos
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Efren Lemus and Gabriela Cáceres
Leer en español

A company administered by two brothers of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Global Motors S.A. de C.V., received 16 checks from Banco Hipotecario, a state-owned bank, totaling $118,143.23 USD. The funds came from the ‘black budget,’ or secret presidential fund, of Bukele’s predecessor, Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014-2019).

The Bukele brothers’ company received the money from two accounts registered to the Presidency of the Republic and the State Intelligence Organism (OIE) between Jan. 27, 2017, and May 13, 2019. During this period, Bukele transitioned from office as mayor of San Salvador (2015-2018) with the FMLN —Sánchez Cerén’s party— and won the February 2019 presidential elections with the GANA party.

A second company, Starlight S.A. de C.V., founded by employees of the Bukele family and, at the time, administered by two officials in the current government, received another $420,688 from the black budget of Sánchez Cerén between January 2015 and December 2018. Starlight is the commercial entity that owns the Salvadoran television station TVX.

According to documents obtained by El Faro, President Bukele’s legal secretary Conan Castro informed the Attorney General’s Office in April 2020 that the Presidency of the Republic has no record of contracts or any other documents registering the payments between the Sánchez Cerén administration and the TV station.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202310/el_salvador/27141/company-of-bukeles-brothers-received-118k-in-secret-from-fmln-government