One reason so few cases of corruption are punished is the huge backlog the court faces. Over the past seven years, ASJ’s study found, the TSC’s investigations took an average of 6.6 years.Some decisions took as long as ten years, after which the accused would either face an administrative sanction, proceed to a criminal sanction, or see the charge dismissed.
ASJ Presents Report On Honduras’ Superior Auditing Court
April 5, 2017
With politicians in the pockets of drug traffickers and hundreds of millions of dollars robbed from government coffers, Honduras has been racked by accusations of grand corruption, illicit enrichment, and organized crime.
But if the Honduran government had been working as it should, none of these scandals would have happened. According to a definitive report into Honduras’ Superior Auditing Court, published by ASJ (formerly known as AJS) this March:
“These corruption scandals and institutional crises could have been prevented, detected and corrected if there were an independent Superior Auditing Court with sufficient budget and the technical-juridical capacity and institutional coverage to comply with its constitutional mandate…”
Though it’s not an institution many, even in Honduras, are familiar with, the Superior Auditing Court is one of the most important tools in the fight against government corruption.
Across the world, Superior Auditing Courts are government institutions that perform internal audits, looking for corruption and inefficiencies within the government and issuing recommendations for change. In the United States, this court is called the “Government Accountability Office”. In Honduras, it is the Tribunal Superior de Cuentas, or TSC. The three magistrates who make up the TSC serve in seven-year terms, and act as the “first link in the fight against corruption”.
Unfortunately, in Honduras, this link can act more like a roadblock. Honduran courts cannot proceed with a case of illicit enrichment until the TSC determines that the incident should be taken to trial. No other judicial body is allowed to perform an independent investigation of the case.
Illicit Enrichment, also called Unjust Enrichment is any instance in which someone misuses their power to make themselves rich at the expense of someone else. It could be direct theft, or indirect abuse of power such as granting your own companies lucrative contracts.
Honduras’ TSC has long come under scrutiny for institutional weakness and lack of response to serious accusations of corruption. ASJ, in turn, has long called on the Honduran government to reform the way the court functions, allowing it to investigate and intercept corruption more swiftly and readily.
ASJ’s report, “Citizen Oversight of the Superior Auditing Court 2009-2016” an in-depth study into the organization and management of the court, is the culmination of these years of advocacy. The report analyzes and evaluates key management indicators for the TSC’s previous term and lays out clear suggestions for improvement. As a new court of magistrates begins their seven-year tenure this year, ASJ hopes that lessons learned from past mistakes will strengthen the institution in the future.
Illicit enrichment is one of the most controversial acts of corruption not just because of its frequent links to organized crime, but also because it is one of the crimes that is least investigated, least often sent to trial, and carries the least punishment, the Citizen Oversight Report noted.
In some cases, the accused were ordered by the TSC to pay a fine to restitute the money they had stolen or mismanaged. However, though the majority of thefts were of quantities of $43,000 and above, the majority of fines were levied in cases of thefts of $2,000 or less.
Besides slow, inefficient processes that tended to ignore the biggest offenders, the study also revealed a limited scope for the court’s investigations. The TSC audited less than 50% of public spending, and their investigations did not reach all municipalities.
Some of the TSC’s institutional weaknesses can be attributed to its limited budget. Unlike most public ministries that dedicate 60-70% of their budget to salaries, the TSC designates well over 90% of its budget just to pay its 649 employees, leaving very little space for operating expenses, technological advances, and other tools. Honduras spends far less on its Superior Auditing Court than other Central American countries – Panama spends 20 times more per capita on investigating government corruption.
“We hope that the findings, results, and recommendations that are presented in this report will not only be a challenge for the new court, but also a contribution” said Lester Ramirez, ASJ’s director of investigations and the author of the report, “We hope it orients them to focus their efforts and resources in impactful actions that will help to construct social legitimacy and institutional credibility.”
Hondurans cast their ballots during the November 30, 2025, general election, which saw historic voter turnout and a peaceful process supported by more than 12,000 national and international election observers working to safeguard transparency.
ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US
A call to action for Honduras
The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025
Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections
Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.
Calvin alums turn faith into action through nonprofit
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Thank You for Moving Forward With Us this Summer!
When Policies Shift, Families Pay the Price * by Jo Ann Van Engen
