A trial in Hong Kong has revealed activities involving Carlos Luis Aguilera Borjas. A lawsuit faced by Emirate Distributors Limited and Salam Corporation Limited against Aall & Zyleman Company Limited, its owners, and some staff members indicates serious allegations. Emirate and Salam are part of Netmedical, a Venezuelan company associated with Aguilera Borjas. Aall & Zyleman was contracted by Fidinam of Switzerland, a company involved in money laundering services that incorporated Nandalo Assets Corp and Lextrop Wealth Inc in Panama for Francisco Novoa Perdiz and Germán Álvarez García, who are both representatives of UBO Aguilera Borjas.
Julio César Moreno Villaverde is described as the director of Emirate and Salam. The proceedings mention Eduardo Salzberger, a partner of Aguilera Borjas and a client of Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH), alongside a Miami attorney named Harvey Delano Rogers, who had previously worked for Netmedical. The case provides insight into Netmedical’s operations in Venezuela:
“In fact, on one occasion, an amount of USD 22,479,990 was credited to the P2 account on July 3, 2012, according to Mr. Rogers, from the Venezuelan Social Security Department through the Ministry of Social Security for dialysis equipment. Then, on July 12, 2012, Mr. Rogers emailed Sandra requesting an amount of USD 22,000,000 to transfer to an account in the name of P2 at CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique SA in Geneva…” [emphasis added]
The heart of the dispute centered around six fraudulent transfers totaling USD 1,898,000, which were made from Emirate and Salam accounts at HSBC and Hang Seng Bank to individuals and companies in Thailand. The wire instructions were sent using an email address very similar to the one used by Rogers during “normal” business activities at Netmedical. Essentially, this case represents a theft by a group of thugs, or as the judge aptly noted, “both Mr. Moreno’s and Mr. Rogers’ testimonies were unsatisfactory and unreliable.”
Aguilera Borjas and Salzberger are part of an entrepreneurial class that emerged in Venezuela since the rise of Chavismo. A former army captain, Aguilera Borjas went from nowhere to amassing a fortune over $100 million, according to Charles Henry de Beaumont, his banker at CBH. Salzberger also boasts a net worth exceeding $100 million, partly due to his involvement with Netmedical. Interestingly, a “due diligence report” conducted by Frank Holder/FTI Consulting in October 2013 described Salzberger merely as a “legal representative” of Netmedical and Salam, not as a stakeholder.
The judge found Aall & Zyleman “liably, directly or otherwise” and ordered the payment of 50% of the amount transferred from Aguilera Borjas’ accounts.