An international anti-corruption mission in Honduras says it's investigating former president Porfirio Lobo on suspicion of involvement in laundering illegal drug money as part of a wider probe into his 2010/14 administration.
The anti-graft unit of the Organization of American States (OAS) said the probe into Lobo began after Devis Leonel Rivera, a leader of the Los Cachiros drug cartel, testified in a US court that he had given money to Lobo's 2010 election campaign.
A lawyer for Lobo, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in or links to drug traffickers, declined to comment.
Twelve people including a former cabinet minister, Lobo's son Fabio and Rivera on are being investigated on suspicion of laundering drug money.
Lobo was not among the 12, but was being investigated as part of the wider probe, said Guimaraes, a Brazilian.
Prosecutors believe the money laundered in the case went through 21 public works contracts for companies set up by Los Cachiros with the ministry for public works worth an estimated 68.3 million lempiras ($A4 million), according to an indictment.
The investigators believe that Fabio Lobo, who in 2017 was sentenced to 24 years in prison by a New York federal court for drug trafficking, made sure Los Cachiros won the contracts.
Lobo's former public works minister Miguel Pastor and two other officials , turned themselves in to prosecutors on Thursday night in Tegucigalpa.
Australian Associated Press
