The federal prosecutors of the United States (USA) presented this Tuesday new accusations of corruption of Rafael Ramírez, former president of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and former Minister of Energy and Petroleum; in the country’s oil industry.
Through his account on the social network Twitter, AP Latin America correspondent Joshua Goodman; reported that Rafael Reiter, former PDVSA security chief, agreed to collaborate with US justice.
“For years, Venezuelans have wondered if US prosecutors are targeting former oil czar Rafael Ramírez. Now, they have pointed out as an apparent cooperator one of Ramírez’s aides, former PDVSA security chief Rafael Reiter, who has offered to testify about the corruption of Ramírez and others,” he wrote on the social network.
According to the document shared by the AP correspondent, Reiter is being held in Spain and is awaiting the extradition request to the US so that he can testify in the trial that is taking place in the US nation in May of this year.
Similarly, it points out that in these investigations, federal prosecutors affirmed “for the first time” that Ramírez would have received bribes, which were paid by banks in Andorra and Switzerland, considered tax havens.
In the investigations, it was also revealed that with these bribes “real estate was purchased but at Ramírez’s request” they were not placed in his name.
“In a new filing, federal prosecutors say for the first time in open court that Ramírez accepted bribes. The bribes were allegedly paid by banks in Andorra and Switzerland. Real estate was also purchased but ‘at Ramírez’s request, these properties were not in his name,’ details the news agency journalist.
In another document shared by the journalist, it is noted that it was known that Reiter worked directly with Ramírez and with other PDVSA officials and suppliers.
“Reiter would testify that bribery of PDVSA officials by suppliers was common, and that he himself accepted bribes in the context of the accused bribery and money laundering scheme,” the document states.
According to US prosecutors, the defendant is qualified to establish structures on behalf of Venezuelan officials who facilitated money laundering of bribery payments.
Reiter was appointed in 2011 as head of security and loss prevention at PDVSA. While in that position he was authorized to carry out administrative investigations at the state oil company, where all the information was reported to Ramírez.
The American journalist also names Diego Salazar, who was imprisoned in Venezuela.
He also “maintained the accounts of Ramírez and other PDVSA officials,” prosecutors say, quoted by the journalist.
Salazar, along with Nervis Villalobos, former Vice Minister of Electric Power, and Ramírez participated in a money laundering criminal organization that “would have laundered, between October 2011 and November 2012 alone, the amount of 1,347 million 339 thousand 972 euros.”
However, it is indicated that this criminal organization could have laundered around 4.2 billion dollars since 2006.
This latest complaint was made by the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, in September of last year.
