El Salvador ex-president Funes paid by Nicaragua government

FILE - In this June 1, 2012 file photo, El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes stands in the National Assembly before speaking to commemorate the anniversary of his third year in office in San Salvador, El Salvador. Funes, who is a fugitive of El Salvador’s courts and lives under political asylum in Nicaragua, said Monday, May 13, 2019, that he is working as an adviser to the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. (AP Photo/Luis Romero, File)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A fugitive former El Salvador president who received asylum from Nicaragua in 2016 said Monday that he has been working there as a paid adviser to the government of President Daniel Ortega.

Mauricio Funes engaged in a Twitter exchange with Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who had reported that the ex-leader and his son, Diego Funes Cañas, are both receiving government payments.

The elder Funes wrote that he didn't see the big deal. He said he has the expertise to advise on matters of Central American integration. He said it also shows he is earning an honest living.

El Salvador President-elect Nayib Bukele criticized the arrangement.

Salvadoran prosecutors allege that during Funes' 2009-2014 administration, some $351 million in government funds were diverted to accounts tied to him and family members.