Prosecutor points out that Leopoldo López and Julio Borges obtained millions of dollars through a PDVSA plot

The Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, stated this Thursday that opponents Leopoldo López and Julio Borges – both exiled – received benefits worth more than a billion dollars through contractors linked to the ‘Pdvsa-Cripto’ corruption plan whose investigation has begun. in March 2023, it revealed the involvement of former Petroleum Minister Tareck El Aissami, now in prison.

At a press conference, Saab showed a video in which businessman Samark López, also detained and accused of being a ‘front man’ for El Aissami, says that, from 2020 and until 2022, “the leadership of PDVSA and part of its board of directors” continued to allocate oil through “contractors that were hidden behind Spanish companies”, whose names it did not reveal.

The businessman highlighted that “there are at least two Venezuelan contractors who have a close connection with the Primero Justicia (PJ) and Voluntad Popular (VP) parties”, to which Borges and López belong, respectively.

Samark López added, in his confession, that “part of the profits obtained by Venezuelan commerce paid commissions that were distributed to finance political and proselytizing activities.”

Saab explained that, in the ‘Pdvsa-Cripto’ plot, they managed to dismantle “a network of employees who manually transferred crude oil cargoes to private individuals and the National Superintendence of Cryptoassets without any type of administrative control or guarantees, failing to comply with regulations PDVSA hiring process.

“These products were sold below market value to obtain greater profits (…) the corresponding payments did not enter PDVSA, nor the Central Bank of Venezuela, but were distributed in an arbitrary and criminal manner among those involved (. . .) ”, detailed the Prosecutor.

The person in charge added that “commissions were charged throughout the marketing process and handouts were requested to guarantee access to contracts. The stolen public funds were used for financial and real estate speculation.”

On April 29, Saab also linked opponents Carlos Vecchio and Carlos Ocariz to the “political conspiracy” linked to the ‘Pdvsa-Cripto’ plot in collusion with the United States and El Aissami, whose objective was “to dissolve the State by any non-democratic means , impose and continue with sanctions.”

Furthermore, he assured that this conspiracy aimed to “implode” the economy, “destroy” the national currency – the bolivar – “by putting upward pressure on the value of the parallel dollar (at an exchange rate higher than the official one)”. and “make the economic policies promoted by the Executive fail”.

Saab requested “a new arrest warrant for this incident” for López and Borges and “a new extradition request”, since both are in exile.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.