The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declared admissible the request made by Venezuela for Italy and Spain to extradite Beatriz Sanso de Ramírez, wife of the former president of PDVSA Rafael Ramírez, according to sentence 368 drafted by magistrate Elsa Gómez Moreno.
The Chamber made similar decisions to extradite Baldo Sanso Rondón, Ramírez’s brother-in-law; Nervis Villalobos (former Vice Minister of Energy) and Jorge Antonio Nery Bonilla, media businessman, according to sentences published simultaneously. In relation to Rafael Ramírez, the Chamber addressed the issue of his extradition for the fourth time, declaring such a request admissible.
These five people are allegedly involved in a corruption scheme documented by the Swiss prosecutor’s office between 2020 and 2021. Said European entity identified “a large number of multimillion-dollar bank accounts, which it is presumed that the money from them comes from funds embezzled public funds in Venezuela”.
Within the framework of these investigations, during February 2020, a Swiss federal court ordered the release of bank documents linked to an embezzlement of PDVSA for 4.5 billion dollars and in which the Swiss banker Charles Henry De Beaumont is allegedly involved, according to reports. the Criminal Chamber.
The magistrates reviewed the requirements for declaring the extradition of a defendant admissible and verified that Ramírez, the Sanso brothers, Villalobos and Nery have arrest warrants issued by a criminal court.
Because of this, the Chamber agreed to endorse the extradition of these people to be tried in Venezuela for their own malicious embezzlement, evasion of the bidding procedure or false allegation, money laundering and association, says the sentence.
The magistrates made it clear to Italy and Spain, nations where the accused are located, that they will be tried with due constitutional guarantees.
