A Honduran court has dropped fraud and money-laundering charges against former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who returned to the country in July after being pardoned in the United States. Judiciary spokesperson Carlos Silva said the evidence did not establish Hernandez’s responsibility for budgetary decisions linked to alleged corruption between 2010 and 2013. The case, known as Pandora, involved claims that officials diverted roughly $10.8 million in public funds to political campaigns, with Hernandez allegedly receiving about $2.3 million. Charges were also dropped against former President Porfirio Lobo and former Finance Minister Wilfredo Cerrato. Hernandez, a National Party politician who led Honduras from 2014 to 2022, called the ruling an end to political persecution. His domestic case followed his 2022 extradition to the United States, where he was convicted of drug trafficking in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years. U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned him on December 2, during Honduras’s 2025 election, after publicly supporting Hernandez’s National Party and threatening to withhold aid from Honduras.