May 11, 2021

Secretary Janet Yellen

Secretary of the Treasury
U.S. Governor, IDB Invest

Dear Secretary Yellen,

Our organizations, together with 60 U.S. and Honduran organizations, recently sent you a letter
urging the U.S. Department of the Treasury to oppose IDB Invest and U.S. Development
Finance Corporation (DFC) financing for the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project in Honduras. The
letter detailed the violence, criminalization, and threats faced by project opponents as well as
allegations of corruption and other irregularities related to the project. Today, we are writing to
share some additional information and once again urge you to ensure IDB Invest does not fund
the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project.

We have learned that the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras identified two individuals
who are connected to the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project as money launderers in a 2003 cable
and requested they be made ineligible for U.S. visas.

The U.S. Embassy cable details information the Embassy had obtained about individuals
involved in the Honduran Credit and Services Bank (Banhcreser) money laundering
scheme in Honduras and requested that 24 people -- including Emin Jorge Abufele
Salomón and Omar Abufele Salomón, who are both connected to the Jilamito
Hydroelectric Project -- be added to the list of money launderers and be made ineligible
for U.S. visas.1

According to the cable, more than USD $5.9 million was converted from the Banhcreser funds
to private funds through several companies that were set up to launder money. The cable notes
‘‘[i]nformation at post obtained from several well-placed sources, in and outside the government
of Honduras, indicates that the Banhcreser officials have engaged in money laundering as well
as other fraudulent financial transactions and have entered the U.S. to engage in the same.’’2

The cable goes on to discuss the efforts of the Honduran Attorney General’s office to prosecute
those responsible for the Banhcreser scheme, but emphasizes that due to the endemic
corruption in Honduras the U.S. should not base its determination on the outcome of the cases
in the Honduran legal system. The cable concludes:

THE BOTTOM LINE

---------------

1
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/03TEGUCIGALPA1069_a.html
2
Ibid, Paragraph 4.
 15. (SBU) The information delineated in this cable more than meets the "reason to
believe" standard set forth in INA Section 212(a)(2)(I).

16. (S) It is important to reiterate that the fact that the individuals involved have not yet
been convicted of criminal offenses under Honduran law is not dispositive of these
cases. These are wealthy Honduran citizens with strong political connections. Embassy
sources (including those within the Honduran Attorney General's Office) indicate a
strong possibility of bribery or other improper behavior on the part of various defendants
in connection with pending legal proceedings. Institutional corruption is endemic in
Honduras, and judicial corruption is common...

17. (C) A number of the persons involved in these three (3) schemes are reputed to
have engaged in a pattern and practice of fraudulent financial practices in Honduras for
several years -- including Emin Jorge Abufele Salomón, Omar Abufele Salomón, Carlos
Chahin Chahin, Nicolas Chahin Chahin, Daniel Shucry Kafati Canahuati, Antonio Afif
Kattan Kattan, Rene Franciso Kattan Fernandez, Roberto Constantino Larach Chahin
and Miguel Felipe Canahuati Yacaman. Post requests that the names of these twenty-
four Honduran nationals be added to the list of money launderers and that their names
be entered into the Department’s Lookout system as 2-I visa ineligibilities.

-------------------------------
INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN SCHEMES
-------------------------------

18. (SBU) Below is the information for the individuals involved in these schemes:

a. Name: Abufele Salomón, Emin Jorge Nat: Honduran DOB: 25 AUG 1943 Sex: M
VLO: P2I COB: Honduras Ppt: Regular Visa: B1/B2 PPN: 004437 NOE: Multiple Entries

b. Name: Abufele Salomón, Omar Nat: Honduran DOB: 04 OCT 1941 Sex: M VLO: P2I
COB: Honduras Ppt: Regular Visa: B1/B2 PPN: 097998 NOE: Multiple Entries

3
…

Given this, we ask if it is viable and above all ethical, for IDB Invest to finance projects linked to
businessmen identified by U.S. officials as responsible for money laundering and corruption?

The Jilamito Hydroelectric Project is a project of Honduran company Inversiones de Generación

Eléctrica S.A. (INGELSA). INGELSA is a subsidiary of Herramientas Manuales de Centro

3
Ibid, Paragraphs 15-18b.
América S.A. de C.V. (HERMACASA), which owns 74% of it.4 IDB Invest clearly identifies
HERMACASA and Emin J. Abufele as the ‘sponsoring entity’ of the project.5

Omar Abufele Salomón is a member of the Board of Directors of HERMACASA.6 He is also

one of the owners of HERMACASA.7 Omar Abufele Salomón owns shares of HERMACASA
directly as well as through Inversiones Oasys S.A. de C.V., a company he owns with his wife
and children.8 Inversiones Oasys S.A. de C.V. is the third largest owner of HERMACASA.9

Emin Jorge Abufele Salomón is the father of Emin Abufele Marcos, who owns 26% of
INGELSA and 51% of its parent company HERMACASA. Emin Jorge Abufele Salomón has also
been involved with HERMACASA in his own right. He was legally authorized to represent,
manage, and direct the business of HERMACASA from 1985 until 2012.10 Furthermore, he is
the founder and President of Grupo Corona S.A.,11 one of the owners of HERMACASA.12

4
INGELSA’s company data is available by searching on the website of the Chamber of Commerce and
Industries of Cortes, where it is registered under Matricula number 0000033459 - 00000. The search
page is: https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-
mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm
5
https://www.idbinvest.org/en/projects/ph-jilamito
6
HERMACASA’s company data is available on the website of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries
of Cortes, where it is registered with Matricula number 0000078799 - 00000. The search page is:
https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm
Empresa Matricula No.
7
Ibid.
8
Inversiones Oasys S.A. de C.V. is registered in the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes
(https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm) with
matricula number 0000077238 - 00000. The owners are listed as Omar Abufele Salomón, Yolanda
Saybe Barnica de Abufele (his wife), Omar Francisco Abufele Saybe (his son), Saida Patricia Abufele
Saybe (his daughter), Raggi Martin Abufele Saybe (his son), y Carlos Francisco Abufele Saybe (his son).
The family relationships are referred to here: https://iconosmag.com/categoria-sociedad/madre-club-
hondureno-arabe-2019-honduras/
9
Inversiones Oasys S.A. de C.V. owns 4.5% of HERMACASA. The largest owner of HERMACASA is
Emin Abufele Marcos, followed by Simonds Industries Inc., and then Inversiones Oasys S.A. de C.V. See
HERMACASA’s company data in the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes, where it is
registered with matricula number 0000078799 - 00000.
https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm
10
HERMACASA company data from the website of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes,
where it is registered with Matricula number 0000078799 - 00000.
https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm
11
See https://proceso.hn/empresario-emin-abufele-recibe-premio-el-quijote-2014-de-manos-del-titular-de-cn/ and
https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1167524-410/secretario-seguridad-recibe-posta-choloma-ciudad_mujer and
https://criterio.hn/los-grupos-empresariales-que-ganaron-con-la-pandemia-en-honduras/
Additionally, Emin Abufele Salomón is listed as the President of Corona Centroamerica S.A. on the
Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes business registry, where he is listed as owning 246 out
of 250 shares. See https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-
mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm Matricula Number 0000074370 - 00000
12
HERMACASA company data from the website of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortes,
where it is registered with Matricula number 0000078799 - 00000.
https://www.ccichonduras.org/website/app/consulta-registro-mercantil/Consulta_de_empresas.htm
It is astounding that IDB Invest has approved a loan to finance the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project
given the publicly available information about the roles of Omar and Emin Jorge Abufele
Salomón in HERMACASA and the U.S. Embassy identification of these individuals as money
launderers. Omar Abufele Salomón in particular stands to directly benefit from the IDB Invest
loan and the development of the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project project.

Not only did the U.S. Embassy identify Omar and Emin Abufele Salomón as money launderers
due to the Banhcreser scheme but it also noted that they ‘are reputed to have engaged in a
pattern and practice of fraudulent financial practices in Honduras.’13 This is further reason for
the Department of the Treasury to take seriously the allegations of corruption and irregularities
related to the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project that were outlined in our first letter to you.

We urge you, as Secretary of the Treasury, to use your voice and role in IDB Invest to ensure
that the loan to the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project is definitively canceled.

Thank you,

Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y Justicia (MADJ)

School of the Americas Watch (SOAW)
Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WfPSC)

13
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/03TEGUCIGALPA1069_a.html Paragraph 17.