52% of those arrested for the Pdvsa Cripto plot are businessmen

One of the plots revealed by the National Anti-Corruption Police is Pdvsa Cripto, baptized with that name by prosecutor Tarek William Saab and for which there is still no estimated amount of property damage to the Republic

On Saturday March 24, the prosecutor appointed by the extinct constituent assembly, Tarek William Saab, offered details on the latest actions against corruption in the country. One of them involves Petróleo de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the National Superintendency of Cryptoactives (Sunacrip), where parallel operations were carried out with the state company.

“This was done through the assignment to Sunacrip and individuals of crude oil cargoes on ships by the state company without any type of administrative control or guarantees. This breaches the contracting regulations required for this purpose,” Saab explained at a press conference.

To date, there are 21 detainees for the Pdvsa Cripto plot -as Saab baptized it- and another 11 people remain to be arrested. Of those arrested, only six have the dates of their arrests known, on the same Friday, March 17, and Tuesday, March 21. Among them The names of Antonio Pérez Suárez, Vice President of Commerce and Quality Supply of PDVSA; the former pro-government deputy for Trujillo, Hugbel Roa; and Joselit Ramírez, former superintendent of Sunacrip.

According to Saab, these three people used their positions to allocate crude oil to individuals, divert money through the use of cryptocurrencies, and create a network of collaborating businessmen to legitimize the money, inside and outside the country.

The latter highlights the purpose of the operations of the Pdvsa Cripto plot: 52.38% of those involved were businessmen, including some dedicated to the construction sector, sports or food imports.

Prosecutor Saab explained that in the structure of businessmen, Manuel Meneses stands out, who served as the main financial operator and adviser to the Vice President of Commerce and Quality Supply of PDVSA, while Rogers Ramírez was the general coordinator of financial operations and liaison between officials. public and businessmen.

28.57% of the plot is made up of PDVSA officials. And it is that in addition to Pérez Suárez, five other officials attached to the Vice Presidency of Commerce and Supply are involved in the embezzlement. According to Saab, these employees “held positions of responsibility for contracting, trading, loading and transporting crude oil abroad.”

* Also read: Follow the “shake of kills” in PDVSA with changes in its board of directors

While 14.28% of Pdvsa Cripto is under the responsibility of Sunacrip officials. In addition to Joselit Ramírez, Renny Gerardo Barrientos and Rajiv Alberto Mosqueda stand out, the latter appointed in 2018 as Mayor of Digital Mining and Associated Processes.

Two years later, Ramírez himself delegated to Mosqueda the signing of the acts granting licenses, waiving and adding requirements, annulment, revocation and extension of those individuals or legal entities authorized to mine in the country.

In 2014, a court in Los Teques dismissed Mosqueda -who at the time was a first lieutenant in the Army- of the charges of criminal association and attempted extortion, after being identified as one of the operators of an alleged fraud against companies through Cadivi assignments.

While former deputy Hugbel Roa, also former Minister of University Education and related to former Minister Tareck El Aissami since university days, the Public Ministry accused him of control Petrocedeñoa PDVSA subsidiary for the improvement of extra-heavy oil from the Orinoco Oil Belt.

Here is the list of businessmen involved in the plot and their occupations:

Manuel Meneses, financial operator and adviser to the head of the structure. Details of his companies or associations in the country are unknown.
Rogers Ramirez, general coordinator of financial operations and liaison between public officials and businessmen.
Rafael Perdomoshareholder of HP Construction, a company dedicated to the construction sector with 11 years of experience. Arrested on March 20.
Roger Perdomo, shareholder of Constructora HP. Arrested on March 20. He worked, together with his brother Rafael, as associates and national financial operators in charge of legitimizing capital. The construction company, through a statement, distanced itself from “alleged acts of corruption or influence peddling.”

The statement from the construction company HP. Another release for the gallery of horror. With a double negative they end up affirming what they are trying to ignore. pic.twitter.com/eQlONsZW3r

— Eugenio G. Martinez (@puzkas) March 22, 2023
Daniel Prieto, “business manager” of deputy Hugbel Roa. Identified by the Prosecutor’s Office as a “national and international financial operator”. Arrested on March 21 while trying to enter the Dominican Republic and deported to the country.
Kristhonfer Barriosowner of the “Tabú” nightclub in San Cristóbal, Táchira state.
Johanna Lisseth Torres Ojeda, arrest date unknown. I was srequested since March 31, 2021 for the crimes of money laundering and criminal association through several companies. According to the Public Ministry, Torres and his partner built “a criminal structure made up of front men, lobbyists, ladies-in-waiting and intermediaries that allowed him to receive illegal freehand contracts granted by PDVSA and the Ministry of Food.”

In money laundering operations, she and her partner criminally obtained mansions in Venezuela and the US, planes, yachts, a fleet of trucks, motorcycles, restaurants, as well as the formation of briefcase companies inside and outside the country. pic.twitter.com/hFU4oa1Tr4

— Venezuelan Public Ministry (@MinpublicoVEN) March 31, 2021
Alejandro Arroyo, businessman and former president of Mineros de Guayana. Arrested on March 20.
Bernardo Arosio Hobaicaowner of ATB Constructores, majority shareholder of the company Prodata Energywhich obtained contracts from PDVSA to import gas to Colombia.
Fernando Bermudezpartner and director of Global Foods Trading, which he declared “inactive” in 2019 in statements to the research portal Armando.Info. Company linked to the businesses of Alex Saab and Álvaro Pulido, who is also being investigated for the PDVSA plot.
Leonardo Torres. This businessman could not be identified or the time he was taken into custody.