In El Salvador, ministers accused of embezzling food aid
Salvadoran government workers bring boxes of food to families in San Salvador on June 3, 2021. AP - Salvador Melendez
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According to an investigation by the Attorney General's office, ministers have stolen food intended for Salvadoran families, hit hard by the health crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Osiris Luna, the deputy justice minister of President Nayib Bukele, appears at the center of this embezzlement enterprise.
According to the prosecutor's investigation, between September and November 2020 he will have embezzled $ 1.6 million in food.
Osiris Luna would have benefited from the complicity of two other members of the government who, at the time, were responsible for the emergency aid program to respond to the health crisis.
Osiris Luna's mother would then have acted as a negotiator in order to sell this food to an entrepreneur known for his criminal activities on the black market.
The attorney general's office had opened an investigation to shed light on the government's management of this emergency program.
Notably because President Bukele's team refused to communicate the expenditure to Parliament.
Last May, the new parliament - now two-thirds controlled by the head of state's party - passed a law granting retroactive immunity to members of government and private contractors for any action related to spending during the health crisis.
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