The Public Ministry (MP) appointed the 50th and 67th national prosecutors and the respective auxiliary prosecutors, to start the investigations into the case denounced by the Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissamiagainst former minister Rafael Ramírez, accused of committing a mega-robbery of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
The information was released this Thursday by the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, who offered details of the start of the investigations at a press conference.
“In view of the information and evidence received, we proceeded to appoint two national prosecutors and their respective assistant prosecutors to open the investigation,” said the Attorney General.
Saab specified that “on the same August 30, an arrest warrant was requested against Rafael Ramírez Carreño, Juan Andrés Wallis Brandt, Víctor Aular Blanco (already detained), Luis Oberto Anselmi, Ignacio Oberto Anselmi, Nervis Villalobos Cárdenas, Abraham Ortega Morales and Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López.
Likewise, nine search warrants were requested for the properties of these people.
Along the same lines, the Prosecutor continued, “additionally measures were requested to Prohibit Disposal and Encumber, Block and Freeze Accounts and other Financial Instruments and Seizure of Assets.”
This Wednesday, five raids were also carried out on different properties linked to those investigated and for this Thursday, September 1, four more raids are stipulated.
detainee’s confession
Behind the detention by Victor classroom, who was Vice President of Finance of PDVSA at the time of the events, and “whom I questioned on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning; and again yesterday afternoon,” Saab said, data from the investigation could be corroborated.
The former official mentioned that Rafael Ramírez summoned him to his office in March 2012 and instructed him to sign the financing.
«Ramírez urges Aular to sign the document, he tells him that it violates the law, and Ramírez told him that he would look for an American auditor, an entity that disguised audits. He is convicted and confessed, everything is making sense », stressed the Attorney General.
He narrated that “Aular explains that this operation, although it could be justified in financial and accounting terms, was an illegal operation, since PDVSA had to request the bolívares it needed from the Central Bank of Venezuela. The interrogated said that Ramírez led him to act illegally. Aular points to him as the material and intellectual author in this corruption plot,” Saab added.
On the other hand, with the interrogation it was learned that “when Ramírez held the position of ambassador to the United Nations Organization (UN), Aular went to study in New York and also prepared folders for him to defend Ramírez in this plot of corruption.”
“When the investigations against Ramírez begin, Aular is sought so that he puts together all the folders, he spent about two weeks without sleeping making the folders for the defense,” he said.
An interesting fact of the interrogation carried out on Víctor Aular is that other people involved in these events come to light. «Aular pointed out that in the city of New York he held a meeting with Nerbys Villalobos, and with the fugitive Jonathan Marinwho was in that city to hold a meeting with Ramírez».
Charged with four crimes
The former Vice President of Finance of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Víctor Aular, was charged with four crimes, after being linked to the mega-fraud committed against the state oil company.
It should be remembered that the mega-fraud was committed between March 2012 and March 2013 for 4,850 million dollars, which was planned by the former Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Rafael Ramírez.
This information was released this Thursday by the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, who pointed out that Aular was presented by the Public Ministry before the 4th Court of First Instance in Control of Crimes Associated with Terrorism, which charged him with the crimes of exploitation fraudulent use of public funds, simple embezzlement, money laundering and conspiracy to commit a crime.
After the presentation hearing, a denunciation hearing was held, Saab said, in which the former official offered details of how they disguised this act of corruption.
“Within the scope of my powers, I proceeded to interrogate, in the presence of the national prosecutors that I have appointed and their assistants, Aular the same day he was arrested,” Saab clarified.
Likewise, he emphasized that after that interrogation, the total responsibility as intellectual and material author of the fugitive from justice Rafael Ramírez was confirmed “in a clear and absolute manner.”
Facts of the corruption plot
This Tuesday, August 30, the Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, filed a complaint with the Public Ministry and gave statements to the media, in which he showed documents that account for the loan offer that the Atlantic Administrator presented to PDVSA for an amount of 17,490 million bolivars, on February 29, 2012.
Six days later, the indebtedness was approved by an Extraordinary Assembly of PDVSA at the request of Rafael Ramírez. A few days later, the Atlantic Administrator transferred this financing to two funds based in Panama and San Vicente, operated by the brothers Luis and Ignacio Oberto Anselmi, according to what was stated by Minister El Aissami.
14 days after that transfer, that is, on March 20, 2010, PDVSA began to pay interest on the loan through 28 transfers that culminated on March 26, 2013, which totaled: 4,850 million dollars .
Procedures of the Public Ministry
To date, 25 corruption schemes have been revealed in the oil industry and 186 former officials have been prosecuted, reported the attorney general, Tarek William Saab.
Likewise, he indicated that convictions have been achieved against 63 former officials who are involved in acts of corruption.
Regarding this new corruption scheme, the Attorney General said: “The investigations are underway and look what has already been achieved in less than 48 hours. All this is a network that entangles itself, the same names always come up, a large band».
