Tegucigalpa, Honduras - The former Honduran president pardoned by President Donald Trump last year after being convicted of narcotrafficking will return to his country in July to face corruption charges, a judicial source said Monday.

Juan Orlando Hernandez was pardoned ahead of the Honduran presidential election in November, which fellow conservative Nasry Asfura won following threats from Trump to cut aid to Honduras if Asfura did not prevail.

Hernandez, who led the Central American country from 2014 to 2022, was convicted in 2024 on charges of having helped smuggle hundreds of tons of drugs into the US and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

He will appear in court in Honduras on August 3 after an international arrest warrant against him was lifted, a spokesperson for the Honduran justice system told AFP.

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Prosecutors accuse Hernandez of fraud and money laundering in connection with the alleged embezzlement of $2 million of government funds used to finance the 2014 presidential campaign.

"This case lacks any legal basis, I am innocent, and the truth will come to light," Hernandez wrote on X last week, alongside a photo of a plane ticket for July 31. He is currently in the US.

He said he was returning "without any electoral ambitions."

Prosecutors close to the left-leaning government of Xiomara Castro (2021-2025) presented the accusation against Hernandez in 2023.

Her administration extradited the right-wing leader in 2022, accusing him of overseeing a "narco-state" and deploying security forces to help ship huge quantities of cocaine to the US.

When he pardoned Hernandez, Trump claimed without evidence that the former leader was a victim of a plot overseen by former US President Joe Biden.