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UFECIC-MP / MACCIH-OAS Team Presents "Open Ark" Case against 5 Honduran Deputies and 6 former Deputies

The Special Prosecutor's Unit against Corruption and Impunity of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Honduras (UFECIC-MP) today presented before the Supreme Court of Justice indictments against five Honduran deputies and six former deputies, among other defendants, for the alleged crime of embezzlement of public funds to the detriment of the Public Administration of the State of Honduras.

The investigation that concluded with today's indictments  was carried out by the Integrated Criminal Investigation and Prosecution Team, composed of prosecutors and investigators of the Special Prosecutor's Unit against Corruption and Impunity of the Public Prosecutor's Office (UFECIC-MP), with the support of experts of the Mission of Support against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras of the Organization of American States (MACCIH-OAS).

With this case, the UFECIC presents evidence showing that the defendants embezzled funds from the Honduran State by depositing 21.1 million lempiras (just over $ 879,000) in a bank account in the name of the PLANETA VERDE ASSOCIATION. The money came from the Presidential House (2 million lempiras), the National Congress (3 million lempiras) and the Ministry of Finance (16.1 million lempiras). The evidence presented shows that the funds were transferred to the personal accounts of proprietary and alternate deputies, as well as to their relatives and third parties.

The spokesperson of the MACCIH Luiz Guimarães Marrey said that "this case shows once again, as has already been said by, among others, the Superior Court of Accounts, that the mechanisms of accountability regarding the expenditure of public funds are inefficient and that there is weakness and little reliability in the Internal Audit Units of the public sector. It is essential to strengthen the existing system with international standards of accountability, which allow for monitoring and surveillance of the performance of the public administration.

The "Open Ark" case is the eighth case of integrated criminal investigation presented by the team formed by UFECIC-MP and MACCIH-OAS. The previous cases were Network of Deputies, Petty Cash of the Lady, Impunity Pact, Pandroa, Asset Insurance, Petty Cash of the Brother, and Fraudulent Social Security Bidding.

The Case

The Fiscal requirement has been formulated:

In the name of AUTHORS of the crime of EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FLOWS in detriment of THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION against:

Deputies in office:

1. JUAN CARLOS VALENZUELA MOLINA, 2) GLADIS AURORA LOPEZ CALDERON, 3) GUSTAVO ALBERTO PÉREZ CRUZ, 4) WELSY MILENA VÁSQUEZ LÓPEZ and 5) MILTON JESÚS PUERTO OSEGUERA

Former deputies:

6) CARLOS HUMBERTO BONILLA AGUIRIANO, 7) AUDELIA RODRÍGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, 8) EDWIN ROBERTO PAVÓN LEÓN, 9) HERNÁN ENRIQUE VINDEL MOURRA, 10) FABRICIO PUERTO OSEGUERA, 11) OSCAR ARTURO ALVAREZ GUERRERO.

The extraneus:

12) GREGORIO ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ RIVERA.

In the name of ACCOMPLICES of the crime of EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FLOWS to the detriment of THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION against
13) ESTELA LISSETH MUÑOZ HERNANDEZ, 14) ARNOLD GUSTAVO CASTRO HERNANDEZ, 15) ANA LUCIA CASTRO LOPEZ, 16) YAJAIRA LISBETH TALBBOTT VILLATORO, 17) JOSE ALEJANDRO FLORES ZUNIGA, 18) INDIRA VIRGINIA OSORIO REYES, 19) IVETH SALOMÉ NAVAS SUAZO, 20 ) GEOVANNY CASTELLANOS DERAS and 21) ALLAN ARONY SAN MARTIN VALLEJO.

In the present case, it should be noted that, although the Prosecutor’s Office is not subject to any administrative pretrial action by the Superior Court of Accounts to be able to exercise criminal action, from the analysis of supporting documents for the allocation of funds , from the Presidential House, National Congress and Finance Secretary, it was found that the Superior Court of Accounts TSC conducted a review on 07/11/2016, so the integrated team UFECIC-MP / MACCIH-OAS conducted the investigation that revealed the following findings.

1. In 2015, several deputies and alternates to the National Congress, including the accused: JUAN CARLOS VALENZUELA MOLINA, GLADIS AURORA LOPEZ CALDERON, GUSTAVO ALBERTO PÉREZ CRUZ, WELSY MILENA VÁSQUEZ LÓPEZ and MILTON JESÚS PUERTO OSEGUERA, CARLOS HUMBERTO BONILLA AGUIRIANO, AUDELIA RODRÍGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, EDWIN ROBERTO PAVÓN LEÓN, HERNÁN ENRIQUE VINDEL MOURRA, FABRICIO PUERTO OSEGUERA and OSCAR ARTURO ALVAREZ GUERRERO asked the President of the Republic to instruct the Ministry of Finance, to allocate various funds for the financing of projects of social interest aimed at improving the living conditions of Honduran citizens, through the Social Assistance Program of the Government of the Republic , which would be executed in different departments of the country including: Atlántida, Choluteca, Cortés, Francisco Morazán, Intibucá, La Paz, Lempira , Ocotepeque, Santa Bárbara, Valle and Yoro, through the Non-Governmental Organization Asociación Planeta Verde (APV).
2. These funds, coming from the Presidential House, the National Congress and the Ministry of Finance, once entered into the account of the Asociación Planeta Verde, were deposited directly into the personal accounts of the deputies who made the request, as well as their his relatives and third persons, in the following way:

3. When requesting these funds the deputies now charged became guarantors of the same and therefore, their commitment was not limited simply to request and achieve the exit of capital, but also to seek and verify that the state money fulfilled the purpose for which it has been requested, that it did not have a different destination and much less that it ended up increasing their patrimony and that of their close relatives.
4. The selection of the NGO Asociación Planeta Verde by the deputies, was not done at random, but responded to a preconceived plan that would allow them to easily take public money, since this NGO was a front organization and many of the projects were not part of the objectives for which it was created.
5. This statement is so obvious, because the income of more than twenty million lempiras that came from state funds to the patrimony of the NGO Asociación Planeta Verde, in a period not exceeding three months –August 28 to November 9, 2015- it was transferred in a similar time frame  - September 2 to November 10, 2015-, being transferred to the private accounts of the deputies, their relatives and private individuals, when said capital was destined to reduce the poverty of the people of Honduras.

All of the above shows a looting of state funds that were intended to reduce poverty, by a group of deputies and former deputies, which makes them responsible for the crime for which an indictment has been filed today.

As mentioned above, the present case shows that the mechanisms of accountability regarding the spending of public funds are inefficient. In addition, the Superior Court of Accounts in the Executive Report on Accountability of the Public Sector of 2017 on July 31, 2018, found weakness and unreliability in the Internal Audit Units of the public sector. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen the existing system, with international accountability standards, which allow for monitoring and surveillance of the performance of the public administration.

This joint action demonstrates once again the commitment of the MACCIH-OAS to continue promoting the fight against corruption through State institutions, in strict compliance with the mandate conferred on us by the Agreement signed on January 19, 2016, between the Government of the Republic of Honduras and the General Secretariat of the OAS.

WE WILL KEEP WORKING!

Reference: E-079/18