The Venezuelan regime arrested another 15 people in the last hours for their alleged involvement in a corruption plot denounced by the Government of Venezuela, bringing the number of detainees to 42 for these events, reported this Saturday andThe attorney general of the dictatorship, Tarek William Saab.
“To date, the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) achieved -together with the auxiliary bodies- the arrest of 42 subjects linked to various corruption schemes what did they look for embezzle (in its criminal immorality) to the national economy, damaging the community in general,” Saab said on his Twitter account.
The prosecutor He did not offer details about the identity of the detainees or what charges they hold within state institutions.
On Friday, Saab announced the arrest of two executives from the oil industry, identified as Jackeline Perico and José Lima, “attached to the Executive Directorate of Production of the Orinoco Oil Belt,” an extensive area that is home to the largest proven crude oil reserves. .
Both officials, he continued, “will be charged with acts of corruption, where they appear as participants in the plot” developed in the state-owned PDVSA and in the Superintendency of Cryptoactives (Sunacrip).
The most recent arrests correspond to Pedro Maldonado, president of the state-owned Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), as well as those in charge of the Siderúrgica del Orinoco (Sidor). The prosecutor’s office reported that the “serious facts” of corruption in the CVG will be investigated, one day after the Anti-Corruption Police asked the prosecutor to prosecute a “group of officials” of this conglomerate of public companies of mining, forestry and electricity, among others, located in the state of Bolívar (south).
Judicial sources told AFP that Maldonado, who was previously director of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), was part of a corruption plot led by former deputy Hugbel Roawho for years was an important leader of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv), now detained.
On March 17, the Anti-Corruption Police issued a first statement in which it requested the prosecution of an undetermined number of citizens who “exercised functions in the Judiciary, in the oil industry and in some municipal mayors’ offices.”
Subsequently, the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that a deputy, the head of the public cryptoactive entity, a mayor, five workers from a PDVSA vice-presidency led by Antonio Pérez -also detained-, two employees of the Digital Mining and Associated Processes Intendancy and three judges They are among those implicated in the corruption schemes and will be tried.
They are also part of the group of apprehended 11 businessmen who, according to the prosecutor, are associated with money laundering operationscoming from these illegal operations in the oil and cryptoactive sector.
Until now, the amount of the embezzlement has not been revealed because the investigation is in the first phase, but press reports place it at at least 3,000 million dollars. The pro-government deputy Hermann Escarrá spoke of up to 23,000 million, although he later denied this version.
The defendants face sentences of 25 to 30 years, prosecutor Tarek William Saab told AFP. The maximum sentence in Venezuela is 30 years.
In addition, “the assets seized from the crime pass into the hands of the State,” said Saab, who did not rule out more arrests while the investigations progress.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com