El Salvador President Mauricio Funes has said there is new incriminating evidence against former President Florencio Flores, who is facing corruption allegations.
Mr Funes said prosecutors in Costa Rica found bank accounts in the name of Mr Flores.
The former president had denied under oath having any accounts abroad.
The government accuses Mr Flores, who governed between 1999 and 2004, of misusing funds donated by Taiwan.
Mr Flores told a congressional panel in January that he had received cheques worth $10m (£6.5m) from Taiwan during the last two years of his presidency.
But Mr Flores denied the funds were for his personal use. He said Taiwan donated the money to El Salvador.
"I would like to say that I have never deposited a cheque from Taiwan's government in any account; that is key for me, to make clear that I have never deposited a cheque from Taiwan's government in any account," Mr Flores told the congressional panel set up to trace the money.
But Mr Funes said that Costa Rica "will send the documents of the Flores case" this week.
"According to Costa Rican Attorney General [Jorge Chavarria] there are bank accounts in the name of President Flores in Costa Rica," said Mr Funes in his radio programme, Conversando con el Presidente.Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo is serving time in the US for corruption-related crimes involving cash payoffs from the government of Taiwan. Francisco Flores looks to have done the same. Given some of the statements made by Portillo and Flores, they are probably not the only heads of state in Central America to have received kickbacks from Taiwan or simply pocketed donations meant for their citizens.
If Flores is charged and convicted in El Salvador, what's the likelihood that we will see other former heads of state cut deals to avoid the same sort of criminal investigation and prosecution? Is the likelihood that they will be investigated and prosecuted still so low that they will play the odds?
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