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A confidential report from the Andorra Financial Intelligence Unit (Uifand), accessed by El País, has revealed that three Caracas-based businessmen diverted 137.8 million dollars in connection with the corruption scheme that looted 4.2 billion dollars from Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) between 2007 and 2008 during Hugo Chávez’s presidency.
Luis Alfonso and Ignacio Enrique Oberto Anselmi, along with Ricardo Martínez Maldonado, utilized a network of accounts and companies in Andorra, Switzerland, Curaçao, Panama, Spain, Antigua and Barbuda, and the United States to redirect funds embezzled from the state oil company. Among the notable transactions was a payment of 1.3 million dollars to Anny Josefina Villanueva, daughter of the former auditor of Pdvsa Jesús Manuel Villanueva, made from the Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA) to a company in Curaçao. They also transferred 200,000 dollars to a Swiss account belonging to Nicolás Veracierta, former executive manager of Electricidad de Caracas, a company nationalized in 2007.
Diverted Funds and Connections to Art and Luxury
According to the report, the majority of the money (131.3 million dollars) deposited into the businessmen’s accounts in Andorra came from Omar Farías Luces, known as the “insurance czar” during the Chávez era. Additionally, they transferred 44 million dollars to accountant Luis Mariano Rodríguez Cabello, identified as a frontman for the corruption network, as well as other multi-million dollar payments to individuals linked to the embezzlement of Pdvsa. Part of the money was also used for luxury acquisitions, including 2.4 million dollars in works by Venezuelan painters Tito Salas and Arturo Michelena, as well as pieces by Colombian artist Fernando Botero.
A Network of Tax Havens and Shell Companies
The report indicates that the financial movements of the Oberto Anselmi and Martínez Maldonado include transactions to Panama, the Dutch Antilles, Australia, and Antigua and Barbuda. The company Unovalores Ltd, a key piece in the network, was established in 2005 by the Panamanian law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal), known for facilitating the creation of companies in tax havens, according to the Pandora Papers. The Andorra Financial Intelligence Unit concluded that the businessmen’s accounts exhibited signs of money laundering and suspicious operations.
Political and Judicial Connections
The corruption scheme involves at least 30 individuals prosecuted in Andorra since 2018, key figures in Chávez’s first administration. According to investigators, the documentation provided by the Oberto Anselmi brothers to open their accounts at the BPA was insufficient and did not verify their role as actual beneficiaries of the funds.
The case further illustrates how corruption and resource diversion have impacted Venezuela’s main industry, while those involved funneled illicit funds abroad for personal enrichment. To read the full report by El País, click here.