Venezuelan prosecutor speaks of former minister as ‘head of this corrupt criminal mafia’AFP
Published 04/29/2024 20:18
Venezuela’s Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, accused this Monday (29) a former Oil Minister arrested for corruption of “conspiring” with opposition leaders and the United States to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.
Former minister Tareck El Aissami was arrested on April 9, for links to a scheme that led to a loss of approximately US$17 billion (R$86.9 billion) of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), for which they were another 65 people were detained.
Saab called him the “boss of this corrupt criminal mafia” and revealed a “regrettable political conspiracy linked to the corruption of PDVSA”, with which he linked the exiled opposition leader Leopoldo López.
“It was not only moral, mental, spirit and soul corruption of these people, but also political and ideological corruption that led them without any type of shame to ally themselves with the worst enemies of the country”, he added. “We managed to dismember a network of officials who used not only their position to carry out oil operations, but to work against the legitimately constituted government.”
The prosecutor released audios of conversations between El Aissami’s right-hand man, Samark López, and opposition leaders in exile such as López, Julio Borges and Carlos Vecchio, as well as Carlos Ocariz, former mayor of one of the five municipalities that make up Caracas.
“The plan was to dissolve the State by any undemocratic means,” said Saab, who indicated that “El Aissami, Samark and the entire corrupt conglomerate that accompanied him” maintained contact with United States officials such as Ambassador James Story, who was at the head from the Venezuelan Affairs office in Bogotá.
López denied the accusations, although he acknowledged that he spoke with El Aissami’s right-hand man. “I communicated with many people from the regime,” he said, during a virtual forum. “Many people who are aligned in the power structure of the dictatorship and who are also, were and continue to be interested in bringing about change in Venezuela.” The prosecutor said he did not rule out further arrests.
The investigation into this corruption scheme at PDVSA began a year ago. El Aissami resigned and disappeared from public life until he was arrested on April 9.
Since 2017, the Public Ministry has carried out more than 30 corruption investigations at the state-owned company, for which three other former Oil Ministers were also accused: Nelson Martínez, Eulogio Del Pino and Rafael Ramírez.
