The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has announced the restructuring of the state company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), after the recent cases of corruption that have led to the resignation of the Minister of Oil, Tareck El Aissami, an influential figure of Chavismo.
Maduro has affirmed that the Venezuelan government has assumed “a vertical, frontal and absolute position in the fight against corruption,” according to what he said during a meeting with the leadership of the ruling party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
“We have given this first blow to the mafiosi, to the mafiosi, and I have the absolute will and decision to go to the very root to dismember all these mafias that we have discovered red-handed,” he assured, after qualifying that the investigation began several weeks ago.
The investigation, led by the president, has shown that some officials have committed crimes within the framework of these “corruption mafias” of the state company, which has ramifications in private companies, as reported by the Últimas Noticias portal.
In addition, the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office has not ruled out requesting new arrest warrants for cases of corruption in the Government: “New elements will come out that will lead us to other people for sure and that will be reported in a timely manner,” said the prosecutor. Tarek William Saab.
In this sense, he assured that the investigation “has barely begun, it is the preamble to a first phase.”
For his part, the Popular Will candidate for the opposition primary, Juan Guaidó, has accused Maduro of being responsible for “the tragedy” that the country is experiencing in reference to corruption cases.
According to a statement from Guaidó’s party, corruption “confirms that the humanitarian crisis” is not “the fault of the alleged blockade” and the sanctions imposed against the Latin American country.
The candidate for the country’s presidential elections for Primero Justicia (PM) Henrique Capriles has also spoken, considering that “the leadership that holds power” is carrying out “a settling of scores.”
“They are fighting over the loot and they do not care about the suffering of the people,” said Capriles, who denounced that corruption “continues at the highest level” and that it affects “the common citizen” every day.
Thus, the opponent has urged to seek “true justice, responsibility and transparency” so that the Venezuelan people have “a government that acts with integrity and benefits everyone.”
The National Anti-Corruption Police (PNCC), a body that acts under the greatest secrecy, announced last week an “in-depth investigation” into a plot to divert at least $3 billion of payments for crude oil in crypto assets in 2022, according to press reports.
At least six officials are under arrest.
Three of them have links, according to the press, with El Aissami: the Vice President of Commerce and Quality Supply of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Colonel Antonio Pérez Suárez; and Joselit Ramírez, superintendent of Cryptoactives of Venezuela (Sunacrip), which manages the funds of the oil industry through cryptocurrencies.
Also deputy Hugbel Roa, creator of the Petro, a state cryptocurrency backed by the country’s vast oil reserves and the first superintendent of Sunacrip.
“By virtue of the investigations that have been initiated into serious acts of corruption in PDVSA; I have made the decision to present my resignation as Minister of Petroleum, with the purpose of supporting, accompanying and fully backing this process,” he wrote Monday night in Twitter El Aissami, who held the position since 2020, is key in this single-producer country.
In addition, he announced his support for a new government “crusade” against corruption, which counts among its detainees Cristóbal Cornieles, president of the Caracas criminal circuit, an anti-terrorism judge and a mayor.
The newspaper Últimas Noticias, of the official line, reported that in oil sales operations through cryptocurrencies to circumvent the United States sanctions against Venezuelan crude, 3,000 million dollars were lost last year. The money, the outlet points out, was diverted by Joselit Ramírez.