Corruption

Francisco Cosenza, former director of Honduras's Security Tax Fund, was sentenced by a US court to five years of home confinement probation after pleading guilty to money laundering and bribery charges related to the misuse of public security funds.

Jorge Alberto Cálix Orellana, whose brother Mario José "Cubeta" Cálix was extradited to the US on drug charges, has been appointed director of the OABI, the state agency that administers assets seized from traffickers—a move that prompted a rights lawyer to warn of potential conflicts of interest.

Prosecutors arrested 11 current and former Central Bank of Honduras employees, including two active managers, on suspicion of 100 counts of embezzlement tied to the systematic theft of public funds over several years.

Jorge Alberto Cálix Orellana has been appointed director of Honduras's agency that administers assets seized from drug traffickers, sparking concerns over conflict of interest because his brother Mario José Cálix—a major trafficker extradited to the US in 2024—had substantial property and accounts seized by the same institution.

Francisco Cosenza, former director of Honduras's Security Tax (Tasa de Seguridad), was sentenced in Miami to five years of home detention after pleading guilty to money laundering and bribery charges tied to over $10 million in padded police uniform and supply contracts.

Honduras's Central Bank said it respects ongoing investigations after prosecutors charged current and former employees with 100 counts of negligent embezzlement tied to a multimillion-lempira theft, with arrests made in Choluteca, Francisco Morazán, and Cortés.

Prosecutors are seeking incarceration for five people accused of irregularities in the awarding of 33 contracts worth nearly 45 million lempiras by the San Pedro Sula municipality, which prosecutors allege circumvented state procurement law by fragmenting contracts.

An investigation found that Honduras's Armed Forces disbursed over L4.1 billion through 51 direct procurement contracts during the pandemic while a military-linked firm with a history of price-gouging received medicine orders and a general was appointed to oversee a corruption-plagued pandemic fund.