TEGUCIGALPA (AP) — A Honduran court on Wednesday sentenced the country’s former first lady, Rosa Bonilla, to 14 years for fraud and embezzlement of social program budgets, a judicial spokesman said.
Bonilla, wife of former President Porfirio Lobo, spent about 12. 2 million lempiras (then valued at about $590,000) for low-income youth on non-public credit card payments, their children’s tuition and construction work, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
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His lawyer, Juan Berganza, said he would appeal the conviction. “Former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla was sentenced to 14 years and one month in prison for the crimes of continuous fraud and embezzlement of the public budget destined for social programs,” Carlos Silva, spokesman for the Supreme Court of Justice, told reporters. Bonilla had already been sentenced to 58 years in criminal matters in a previous trial, which Honduras’ Supreme Court overturned in early 2020, arguing it was full of inconsistencies.
The Supreme Court ordered a new trial through a lower court, which found Bonilla guilty in March of this year. (Report by Gustavo Palencia; Writing by Kylie Madry; Edited by Sandra Maler)
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