Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez confirms he was investigated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a statement released by his government on Thursday.
The Honduran statement came two days after the Southern District of New York released an 11-page document, dated 2015, which revealed several people were under investigation, including the Honduran President and his sister, who is now deceased, in an alleged involvement in “large-scale drug-trafficking and money laundering activities relating to the importation of cocaine into the United States.”
The investigation began in 2013. It is not clear whether it is still open.
Parts of the prosecution’s case have been redacted but many of the details were obtained through conversations with a witness cooperating in the case, the documents say. Known as CW-1, the witness is working with authorities in exchange for “leniency at sentencing.”
The filed documents were presented as part of the pretrial motions in the case of President Hernandez’s brother, Antonio Hernandez Alvarado.
Hernandez Alvarado, also known as “Tony Hernandez” was arrested in Miami in November 2018 on charges of trafficking cocaine, weapons offenses and making false statements, according to the US Justice Department. He is being prosecuted in New York and faces a maximum of life in prison if found guilty. Hernandez Alvarado has denied the allegations and his trial is set to begin September.
The Honduran government’s statement said the US Department of Justice had “found no evidence to sustain the accusations against the president and his collaborators.”
The statement goes on to explain how the Honduran government has implemented “strategies” to fight organized crime and drug cartels, the main issues plaguing the impoverished nation.
“Today Honduras has converted its hostile territory for narcotrafficking, to the extent that the International Central Maritime Against Drug Trafficking in Colombia moved Honduras’s position from 1 to 12 as a country receiving drugs that travel to the US consumer market.”
CNN reached out to the DEA who referred any request for information to the Southern District’s office. CNN also reached out to district, who declined to comment on the investigation’s status.
CNN’s David Shotell in DC and CNNE’s Ana Melgar Zuniga in Atlanta contributed to this report.