An investigation by El Nacional has revealed how the current minister, Wilmar Castro Soteldo, collaborated with corrupt traders to siphon off oil delivered by PDVSA and distribute it among themselves.
Editorial | EL NACIONAL
According to sources close to the case, there is another ongoing investigation by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office into Italians Alessandro Bazzoni and Erik Roveta for defrauding a group of businessmen linked to the agricultural and agro-industrial sector in the country. Within the corruption scheme at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which exceeds 21 billion dollars, in conjunction with the then Vice President of Commerce and Supply, José Antonio Pérez Suárez—currently detained—and Agriculture Minister Wilmar Castro Soteldo, they coerced agricultural and agro-industrial entrepreneurs by offering payments through the state oil company to compensate them with oil for the production of rice, corn, meat, and chickens, among other food and health sector products.
The reality is that Pérez Suárez and Castro Soteldo allegedly teamed up with Bazzoni, Roveta, and Joaquín Leal Jiménez to misappropriate the oil delivered through these alliances and share it among themselves. Castro Soteldo can no longer hide his involvement in the bankruptcies and handovers of agro-industrial facilities. His participation in the CLAP-Cuspal-PDVSA triangulation left them owing more than 300 million dollars to entrepreneurs in the sector, while justifying compensation programs with businessmen such as Alejandro Arroyo and the Khalil and Walid el Hage brothers, among others.
Corruption at PDVSA reached the agricultural sector
This scam during 2021 and 2022 not only bankrupted many medium and small businesses but also caused significant food shortages in the country, affecting all Venezuelans and destabilizing the national economy. Bazzoni and Roveta are currently accused of illegal trafficking of strategic materials and financing terrorism under Article 34 of the Law.
It has come to light that the main Greek shipowner for these structured criminal operations was George Moundreas, who is also a partner of Bazzoni in several oil transport vessels. The most emblematic vessel is the MT Nikel, which Bazzoni and Moundreas abandoned without permission to set sail, leaving an unpaid invoice to PDVSA for the oil on board.
Read the rest of this investigation by clicking on this link from EL NACIONAL.
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