The Attorney General has made significant progress in the investigations regarding the corruption network at Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), uncovering that Alessandro Bazzoni and Joaquín Leal Jiménez paid over 100 million dollars in cash to Colonel José Antonio Pérez Suárez, former Vice President of Commerce and Supply at Pdvsa, on behalf of Alex Saab and later, after his capture in Cape Verde, Álvaro Pulido.
Bazzoni and Leal partnered with Italian broker Erik Roveta, based in Athens, to purchase and operate the ships necessary to transport all crude oil and refined products from Pdvsa to China and other markets. Between 2020 and 2022, this group, under Pérez Suárez’s instructions, was allocated over 100 million barrels of crude and refined products on credit.
Joaquín Leal Jiménez coordinated the buying and selling of Venezuelan crude oil from Pdvsa and its subsidiary, Pdvsa Petróleo, S.A., leveraging his expertise in the oil industry and local connections. Alessandro Bazzoni managed transportation along with Erik Roveta. During this period, Roveta managed and coordinated 163 voyages primarily from Venezuela to China. Many ships repeated voyages, effectively creating a corridor between Venezuela and Asia, where vessels would depart loaded from Venezuela and return empty directly from Asia to reload and repeat the journey. Leal and Bazzoni also partnered with Swiss national Phillipp Apikian from Swiss Oil Trading SA, based in Geneva and also under U.S. sanctions, to market Venezuelan crude and refined products in Asia.
According to the OFAC, both Bazzoni and Leal, who are under sanctions, utilized the company Libre Abordo S.A for the exchange of oil for tankers at inflated prices, generating corrupt profits. Four other companies—Schlager Business Group SdRL, Cosmo Resources PTE Ltd, Delta Group Ltd, and United Petróleo Corp.—were reportedly used by Bazzoni and Leal, as per the U.S. Treasury Department, for the oil-for-food exchange scheme facilitated by Alex Saab and subsequently Álvaro Pulido. This group of companies has outstanding unpaid invoices exceeding four billion U.S. dollars with the state-owned Pdvsa.
In 2021, Alessandro Bazzoni established United Petroleo Corp in Panama. The company was created to pose as the legitimate United Petroleum & Chemicals Co. LTD, a subsidiary of China Sinopec Corp. The strategy involved creating a facade to make it appear that the genuine United was receiving credit allocations of oil, when in fact, it was Bazzoni’s own operations. Bazzoni’s Panamanian United has pending invoices totaling 400 million dollars owed to Pdvsa, as reported by the Associated Press. This situation exemplifies how these oil operators have enriched themselves at the expense of the Venezuelan people.
It has been revealed that Bazzoni and Leal employed a Mexican financier, José Luis Chávez Calva, who resides between London and Dubai and works for Joaquín Leal Jiménez’s organization. Chávez Calva provided the financial structure for collecting and facilitating all payments within the corruption scheme, which is estimated to have mobilized resources exceeding 8 billion dollars from the sale of Venezuelan oil. Chávez, a low-profile individual, specializes in multi-currency transactions, cryptocurrency, and fictitious structures to leverage his connections in Dubai to utilize the banking system and legitimize these stolen funds.
The Attorney General continues its requests before the Second Special Court of First Instance for financial crimes and terrorism. Sources close to the case have confirmed that Joaquín Leal Jiménez, Alessandro Bazzoni, and José Luis Chávez Calva are currently abroad.