By Laura Garcia and Sarah Morland
TEGUCIGALPA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A Honduran court has dropped charges against former President Juan Orlando Hernandez over fraud and money laundering, judiciary authorities said on Tuesday, nine months after he was freed from prison in the United States.
Judiciary spokesperson Carlos Silva told local media that the judge concluded Hernandez was not responsible for budgetary decisions at the time of the crime and that it could not be confirmed that embezzled funds had been channeled into his 2013 presidential campaign.
"This chapter of political persecution has now ended," Hernandez, who has always maintained his innocence, said in a public address after the ruling.
Hernandez returned to the Central American nation in late July, after being extradited to the U.S. in 2022 on drug trafficking charges. Two years later, he was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison, but pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump late last year.
Trump's pardon of Hernandez was announced two days before Honduras' November presidential vote, in a move widely seen as an effort to influence the country's election. Trump also said at the time that he would cut funding to Honduras should the candidate for Hernandez' right-wing National Party - now president, Nasry Asfura - not win the election.
After being freed from U.S. prison, Hernandez continued to face charges of fraud and money laundering in Honduras as part of a sprawling corruption investigation, known as Pandora II.
Prosecutors had accused Hernandez and other high-profile officials of diverting nearly $11 million in state funds to political campaigns between 2010 and 2013. Some of this money allegedly was used for Hernandez's first presidential campaign.
Charges have also been dropped against other high-profile officials, including former President Porfirio Lobo and ex-finance minister Wilfredo Cerrato.
Hernandez led Honduras from 2014 to 2022, a period during which the Central American nation served as a major drug trafficking route, and hundreds of thousands of Hondurans fled drug-related violence and extortion.
Hernandez told Reuters in an interview in late July that he had no immediate plans to seek public office in Honduras but wanted to support the new government.
(Reporting by Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa and Sarah Morland in Mexico City)
