Former Honduran First Lady Under Embezzlement Investigation

A multi-agency investigation is accusing former first of lady of Honduras Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo of embezzling over US$12 million in public funds to her personal account just days before her husband, former President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, left office in 2014.

RELATED:  
UN: Honduras Must Guarantee Rule of Law, Human Rights

Lobo was the first National Party president to rule after former President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a 2009 coup.

The Honduran National Anti-Corruption Council, CNA, the International Assistance Mission Against Corruption and Impunity of Honduras, MACCIH, and the Special Oversight Unit Against Impunity and Corruption, UFECIC, confirmed the illegal transfer of funds.

Based on an anonymous tip to the CNA last February, the council began to investigate the case. They found that the former first lady made a transfer from the Office of the First Lady, an administrative bank account, to her personal bank account on Jan. 22, 2014. Just days later, she closed out her public account.

Investigators said Bonilla was the only person with access to make transfers or closures.

In addition, money was transferred from the Secretary of the Presidency account to various personal bank accounts in Bonilla’s name under the guise of “administrative expenditures” during the Lobo presidency, according to CNA lead investigator Odiz Fernandez.

Fernandez added that the CNA brought the investigation to the UFECIC within the Public Prosecutor's Office on Oct. 31 of this year.

After Honduran newspaper La Prensa released a story on the investigation this week, the prosecutor’s office froze all of Bonilla’s personal bank accounts. She appeared before the UFECIC yesterday.   

CNA director Gabriela Castellanos insists that the Publc Prosecutor’s Office advance the case as quickly as possible.

“Since we presented this investigation in October, we have said this is an emblematic case of corruption in our country for who it involves and for the use of (public) funds.”

Fernandez and Castellanos stressed that the UFECIC “has all the information it needs” to start a formal investigation into Bonilla.

Yesterday, as the former first lady was heading into UFECIC offices with her lawyer, she told the press, “the most prudent thing to do was to present ourselves, and yes, there’s a line of investigation."

"We decided to come to see what the problem was; I don’t owe anything to anyone," she added.

She told the UFECIC officials, “I’m here as a Honduran and a former first lady and I’ll respond to whatever questions there are.”

Bonilla spoke on a national radio station just hours before her UFECIC appearance, saying she knew nothing of her frozen bank accounts or the investigation until reading about it in the media.