El Salvador arrests ex-leader Saca on fraud charges

Authorities in El Salvador arrested the country's ex-president Elias Antonio Saca and several other former officials today for alleged embezzlement and money-laundering, the attorney general's office said.
Saca, 51, and six other former officials from his government were detained in the early morning "on charges of various crimes," it said on Twitter.
Saca is a member of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). He was president of El Salvador from 2004 to 2009.
He is accused of embezzlement, money-laundering and links to illegal groups, the prosecutors' office said.
It give no further details of the accusations for the time being.

A self-made businessman, Saca became a well-known journalist before becoming president.

He was seen as a strong ally of the United States during his time in power.
The other suspects arrested include former public waterworks official Cesar Funes, 46, and ex-presidential communications chief Julio Rank, 65.
El Salvador is a Central American country of six million people, bordered by Guatemala and Honduras.
It is stricken by poverty and violent crime involving drug gangs.