The Gualcarque fraud case, with David Castillo as a defendant, went to trial on July 25th. Castillo and five others have been charged with fraudulently obtaining permits to install the Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque River. The complete charges include the falsification of documents, the abuse of authority, the violation of the duties of a public official, and committing fraud to benefit the Atala Zablah family. 

On August 3, Roberto Abate Ponce, an employee of the David Castillo-owned company DIGICOM, testified. As Karen Spring summarizes, in a blog called Honduras Now, “Ponce testified that Castillo used his name, without permission, to create the company DESA. Later, members of the Atlas family would become shareholders. At the time, Castillo was a public official inside the National Electrical Energy Company (ENEE) and had inside information and access to officials that could approve an energy contract for DESA (hence him hiding his involvement with DESA).”