Brazil’s Estadao reports that Gazprombank has established a money laundering scheme in Switzerland with Derwick Oil & Gas. These explosive revelations come after an investigation by Switzerland’s financial regulatory body into the Panama Papers ended with Gazprombank being sanctioned for “serious deficiencies in anti-money laundering processes”. Thirty Swiss banks connected to the Panama Papers were investigated, and Gazprombank was the only one sanctioned.
Estadao indicates that “atypical” transactions, such as a $35 million loan that Derwick provided to Gazprombank in 2013, triggered alarm bells. Swiss authorities have uncovered numerous inexplicable transactions of this nature between Derwick and Gazprombank. Documents seen by this site detail transactions close to $200 million, occurring in just the first nine months of 2013, belonging to accounts associated with Francisco Convit and Alejandro Betancourt (directors of Derwick Oil & Gas) at Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH). The funds from CBH were subsequently transferred to Gazprombank. These documents are part of the evidence used in a U.S. multijurisdictional criminal investigation in which Switzerland is involved. Meanwhile, Derwick executives were battling Swiss authorities to prevent sharing information with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding around 42 transfers to Swiss banks totaling approximately $145 million in 2010.
Derwick Oil & Gas, a Barbados shell company created by Convit, Betancourt, and Pedro Trebbau, bribed its way into Petrozamora, a joint venture between PDVSA and Gazprombank. Derwick and Gazprombank also incorporated a shell in Amsterdam called Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. While the vice president of Gazprombank, Boris Ivanov, signed an agreement with PDVSA’s CEO, Rafael Ramírez, for the formation of Petrozamora, Derwick’s involvement remained obscured until this site uncovered their connections.
Estadao notes that Gazprombank referred to FINMA sanctions in Switzerland concerning activities prior to 2009 when Gazprombank operated in Switzerland under a different name: Russian Commercial Bank. This is, of course, utterly nonsensical. Gazprombank’s relationships with Derwick in Venezuela officially began in 2009, coinciding with the disappearance of $500 million from CVG following orders sent from Alejandro Betancourt’s office.
Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. is an entity sanctioned by the OFAC. Its parent company, Gazprombank, and its CEO, Andrey Akimov, are also sanctioned. This means that Boris Ivanov, Christophe Gerard, Orlando Alvarado, and Francisco Convit (shareholders/directors of Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V.) are effectively under U.S. Treasury sanctions. *
Derwick Associates, another shell controlled by Betancourt, Convit, and Trebbau, is part of another criminal investigation into PDVSA corruption. At least one official, César David Rincón Godoy, has already pleaded guilty in connection with it. Derwick hired other involved parties, such as Nervis Villalobos (arrested and pending extradition to the U.S.), to secure procurement contracts. Moreover, other officials, Luis Carlos de León and Javier Alvarado Ochoa, either arrested and awaiting extradition or on the run, signed procurement contracts with Derwick in exchange for bribes.
Swiss authorities are sharing evidence with their U.S. counterparts regarding Derwick Associates and now Gazprombank. There’s a delicious irony in all of this: Andrei Akimov, Putin’s secretive bureaucrat, embroiled in Chavista corruption.
ANNEX 30/04/2018 18:22 GMT:
The U.S. Treasury Department emailed a response to an inquiry about when Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. was sanctioned. Please see the email below [bold added].
From: [email protected]>
Subject: RE: Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V.
Date: April 30, 2018 at 16:29:16 BST
To: [email protected]>
Good morning, and thank you for your inquiry.
All OFAC actions, including changes to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and the Sectoral Sanctions Identification List (“SSI List”), are published on our recent actions page of OFAC. You can stay updated by visiting this page, subscribing to email updates, or opting in via RSS. See: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/OFAC-Recent-Actions.aspx
On September 1, 2016, OFAC issued an update regarding its recent actions related to Gazprombank Latin America Ventures BV that may be helpful to you. That page can be found here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20160901.aspx
However, please note that OFAC applies a 50 percent rule to entities on the SSI List created in July 2014 in the context of sanctions related to Ukraine/Russia. The ownership and interests in property of individuals on the SSI List (and entities owned 50 percent or more in total by one or more individuals subject to SSI List restrictions) are also subject to the SSI List restrictions. Depending on your inquiry, you may also need to determine whether the individuals with ownership in the entity were included on the SSI List at an earlier date. For further information, please refer to the FAQs regarding this issue here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Sanctions/Pages/faq_general.aspx#50_percent.
Regards,
Office of Foreign Assets Control
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20220
Toll-free: 1-800-540-6322
Email: [email protected]
Website: OFAC FAQs
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