(CNN Español) — The Honduran Public Ministry reported this Friday that it began a process of securing and seizing assets and financial assets of the family nucleus of former President Juan Orlando Hernández, through the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime.
According to the official statement, the seizure includes 33 properties distributed in the departments of Francisco Morazán, Olancho and Lempira, eight commercial companies, 16 vehicles and financial products.
The text adds that the assets will be investigated under “their relationship indicated with people linked to drug trafficking and with whom at the time there was a financial transactional relationship and the incorporation of companies.”
The Public Ministry also indicated that the investigation accompanies the beginning of the extradition process for Hernández. And he assured that he received the authorization of a competent judge to proceed with the seizure of the former president’s assets.
Days before, the plenary of magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras rejected Hernández’s appeal and gave free rein to his extradition to the United States. The US authorities accuse the former president of alleged links to drug trafficking, charges that Hernández has repeatedly denied.