TEGUCIGALPA: A Honduran judge jailed three members of Congress, a deputy government minister and more than a dozen others while they await trial on allegations they funneled $12 million of public money into political campaigns, a judiciary spokesman said on Monday.
The funds were allegedly used for the campaign of President Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2013, to pay debts of the opposition Liberal Party and to finance other campaigns, according to an investigation by the anticorruption mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) and public prosecutors. A judge issued an arrest warrant on Saturday for 37 people linked to the case, known as “Pandora”, related to the embezzlement of public funds from agriculture projects in 2013 to campaigns. Among the 19 people put in pre-trial detention were three representatives of the Honduran National Congress from the governing National Party, and an undersecretary of the current government. President Hernandez´s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A defense lawyer for one of the accused said that the charges were “inconsistent”.
Court directs Centre, FIA, and NAB to provide details of cases registered against Sheikh
PPP chief appoints Dr Arshad Mughal, who is also serving as Deputy Mayor of Sukkur, as PPP president Sukkur
Public Health Engineering Department has been taken from Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani
Senator stresses urgency of decisive climate action, calling on global leaders to go beyond rhetoric
Khawaja Asif says he has filed formal complaint with Metropolitan police after incident near Heathrow Airport
Event was intended to foster dialogue on one of world’s most polarising territorial disputes
