Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced on Saturday that 21 people, including ten officials, had been arrested as part of theinvestigation into corruption at the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). This operation, launched last week, led to the resignation of the oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, who was considered a key man in power.
According to Mr. Saab, those arrested are accused of “appropriation or misappropriation of public property, influence peddling, money laundering, criminal association and treason. The eleven non-civil servants arrested are businessmen. One of them, Daniel Pietro, was apprehended in the Dominican Republic while attempting to flee. The officials carried out “parallel oil operations” to those of Petróleos de Venezuela by “loading crude oil onto ships (…) without any type of administrative control,” according to the prosecutor’s report.
The prosecutor did not reveal the amount of the embezzlement, but the press spoke of “3 billion dollars”. Hermann Escarra, a deputy from the ruling party, mentioned a figure of 23 billion dollars. Since 2017, Venezuela’s oil industry has been targeted by numerous investigations, resulting in the arrest of nearly 200 employees and two oil ministers, Eulogio del Pino and Nelson Martinez. The latter died in custody.
President Nicolas Maduro, who has launched anti-corruption operations in the past, said the investigations began in October. In particular, he questioned the lifestyle of these senior officials who, according to him, lived like “nouveau riches” in “extravagance”.
This new corruption case is likely to be another blow to an already struggling economy. Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, has been going through a major economic crisis for several years, marked by galloping inflation and a shortage of basic necessities.
