Lorena Pena and her daughter have been convicted of illegal enrichment

The First Civil Chamber of the First Section of the Center of San Salvador convicted former representative Lorena Peña of illicit enrichment; The same decision was taken regarding Ana Virginia Guardado Peña, the daughter of a former official.

In Lorena’s case, the Chamber found illegal enrichment of $133,746.60, while for the daughter, it is $17,016.26, making a total of $150,762.86. That amount should be paid to the state.

“The First Civil Chamber of the First Section of the Center of San Salvador evaluated the evidence presented by @FGR_SV, which showed that both defendants could not justify the increase in their assets and the legal origin of the funds. The sentence also disqualifies Pena from holding any public office in the next 10 years,” the Office of the Attorney General (FGR) reported.

Also read: Hearing has been started against Lorena Pena and her daughter for alleged enrichment

The two were accused by the prosecutor’s office of illegally enriching themselves with $277,482.54 from state funds, but according to their lawyer, they managed to make the amount of $126,719.68 disappear.

“Pena is accused of irregularities in cash bank deposits, the acquisition of two properties and credit card payments totaling $140,521.57. While his daughter has been sued for discrepancies in cash bank deposits and credit card payments in the amount of $136,960.94,” the prosecutor’s office explained in a tweet shortly before hearing the verdict.

Former deputy’s version

For his part, his lawyer said that the verdict was somewhat favorable to him because the amount of money the Prosecutor’s Office had awarded him as illegal enrichment was greatly reduced. He announced that he was going to appeal against the sentence.

Asked about the punishment, Lorena Peña replied: “It is a political punishment. The North American organization where my daughter works is responsible for the payment of $17,000 received from the same organization that also sent the supporting documents. And the remaining 133 thousand in my case are 120 thousand from ten years of work in the Culture Secretariat of the FMLN, not the government, it is the expense account of that secretariat, it is not my personal account, and they themselves did that. They say in their charges, also a piece of land worth 11 thousand dollars which I paid for over 14 years and they say I bought it in cash even though they have the sales contract and receipts. The charge makes no reference to any NGO or misuse of public funds, however, they admonish me to “return” that amount and they disqualify me for ten years.