The Foundation for the Defense, Protection and Reparation of the Venezuelan Homeland (Fundeproredive) filed a complaint with the Public Ministry (MP) of Venezuela against the “Pérez Abad Clan” in the past year, which is made up of relatives of then-president of Banco Bicentenario, Miguel Ángel Pérez Abad. “The MP received a request to investigate the businesses linked to the Pérez Abad family, where various entities have been established abroad during the same period they held the public office of minister,” the foundation stated.
The complaint included Juan Carlos Pérez Abad, Teodoro Santiago Pérez Abad, Manoly Giunonna Ramírez Navarro, and Nelson Rafael Bustamante Abidar, along with former minister Miguel Ángel Pérez Abad, as well as the companies Global Oleos CA and Alcalde Integral de Procuras CA. Other firms listed were JMC International, LLC, BIG BUS Construtions, LLC, TPY USA, LLC, Aventuras OPH LLC, Bynton OPH LLC, Delray OPH LLC, FT. Lauderdale OPH, Jensen OPH LLC, OPH Global LLC, PH Gardens OPH LLC, Royal Palm OPH, LLC, all based in Florida, USA. There were also the Panamanian companies Metales Business Corporation INC, International Harvester Tractors INC, and Strong Investment House INC.
Fundeproredive emphasized that the complaint resulted from alleged “irregularities” in the granting of Venezuelan foreign exchange, leading them to request the Attorney General to investigate the amounts provided to the “Pérez Abad Clan.” “How can this clan, with their brother being the President of Banco Bicentenario, publicly proclaim being ‘anti-imperialist’, ‘Chavista’, and that ‘we must invest in Venezuela’? He was President of Fedeindustria and saw how those dollars were invested in the country, but today we haven’t seen how the Pérez Abad family invests in Venezuela; instead, they invest in the United States. This is a case of double standards because this ostentatious former minister, president of Banco Bicentenario, has a daily rhetoric against the empire and foreign interference while his family is a major investor in the U.S.,” they asserted. They further stressed, “It is essential to demand that an impartial investigation is opened and that there is no ‘cloak of impunity’ covering these individuals since they are family members of a former Venezuelan minister. On the contrary, they should be the first to be investigated as they are connected to officials, and the example must be set,” they added.
Moreover, the foundation announced plans to approach the U.S. Embassy in Caracas to petition the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and all international bodies related to money laundering to open an investigation into these individuals, relatives of Banco Bicentenario’s president, Miguel Ángel Pérez Abad, to determine the origin of the dollars invested in the companies they own in the U.S. “Where did they get the dollars from when Venezuela has currency controls? Where are the Pérez Abad’s accounts in bolivares? All accounts are in dollars!” they emphasized. Fundeproredive also called on Nicolás Maduro to understand “how it is that many ministers are investing in the United States instead of Venezuela.”
In the “Pérez Abad Clan,” the names of brothers Miguel Ángel Pérez Abad, Juan Carlos Pérez Abad, and Teodoro Santiago Pérez Abad stand out.
Miguel Ángel Pérez Abad is a politician and businessman born in Venezuela, in the city of Barcelona, Anzoátegui state, in 1963. He served as a minister for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Venezuela in 2017.
He was president of the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Artisan, Micro, Small and Medium Industries and Enterprises of Venezuela (Fedeindustria) and had also been Minister of Industries and Commerce in the Venezuelan Government. In 2015, he was appointed Commissioner of the Economic Major State.
Miguel Pérez Abad served as the president of Fedeindustria from 2001. On January 6, 2016, Nicolás Maduro appointed him as the new Minister of Industries and Commerce of Venezuela.
On February 15, 2016, he was designated by Nicolás Maduro as Vice President of Productive Economy, replacing Luis Salas.
On June 7, 2017, he was appointed Minister of Popular Power for Foreign Trade, a position he held until replaced by José Gregorio Vielma Mora on November 26, 2017.
On September 9, 2020, former Minister of Economy and Finance Simón Zerpa was appointed as president of the Banco Bicentenario del Pueblo, the Working Class, Women, and Communes, replacing Miguel Pérez Abad, who was running for the National Assembly in the elections called for December 6 of the same year.
In February 2023, Miguel Pérez Abad was appointed as the new president of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), replacing Calixto Ortega.
Hugo Chávez himself promoted Miguel Pérez Abad’s career as an official of the Venezuelan national government after being impressed by an event called “Anzoátegui Productivo”, organized by Pérez Abad, aiming to promote the commercial potential of Anzoátegui state, which is Pérez Abad’s home state. The relationship between Pérez Abad and Chávez was so close that he accompanied Chávez on several occasions in the presidential airplane.
Miguel Pérez Abad
Some Venezuelans label Miguel Pérez Abad as “adeco”, which refers to members of the Acción Democrática party that ruled Venezuela before the rise of Chavismo to power.
Pérez maintained a close relationship with Dennis Balza, a former “adeco” governor of Anzoátegui state, with whom he even traveled on an official delegation to Cuba.
The businessman became known through his “Anzoátegui Productivo,” until the event stopped being sponsored by the Anzoátegui governorate, as had been the case for years.
Miguel Pérez Abad established profitable dealings with the Venezuelan state. He sold his company “Puerto Gas” (which joined the opposition’s oil strike in 2002) and secured large contracts in the Plataforma Deltana, among others. He was a pre-candidate for the governorship of Anzoátegui for the PSUV, participated in the internal elections, but lost.
After approving an increase in credit cards for Banco Bicentenario by an amount close to 1 billion bolívares, nearly 35 billion bolívares allegedly disappeared in just three hours, a sum that would represent a fraud against the Venezuelan public patrimony close to 200,000 U.S. dollars.
According to a report from “Notiexpress” featured on globedia.com, the response from the president of the state-owned financial institution, Alejandro Essis, was to take action against humble workers who had used the so-called “extra credit.” It was claimed that there is evidence of the numerous private trips of Miguel Pérez Abad to the United States and Caribbean islands alongside Enrique Romero, who is identified as a presumed frontman.
In 2019, the site also reported
“An unprecedented wave of abuses in state enterprises is unfolding within the governmental Banco Bicentenario, following a human error in the central computing system of this financial institution.
From Barquisimeto, capital of Lara state, the first report emerged on social media signed by two employees coerced under bizarre threats, who outlined the following communication:
Dear friends, acquaintances, clients, and beneficiaries. By means of this letter, I, Yarabit Piña, holder of ID C.I. V-14.269.587, declare that today, July 15, 2020, I was coerced into signing my resignation as an employee of Banco Bicentenario del Pueblo under the threat of being arrested by the SEBIN if I did not sign it before leaving the office where the incidents occurred, simply because I had overdrawn my credit card.
At 11 AM today, I and my colleague Juelith Leonela Mejía Gonzalez, V-17.036.316, were summoned to a meeting in the regional management office of Lara state, where Zuly Mendoza, Regional Manager of the Bank, Katy Caceres, Human Resources Manager, María Durán, Banking Socialization Coordinator, along with Ivette Sogovia, Manager of the Unique Fund for Productive Financing (FONFIP) from the Lara State Government, were present – we found no explanation for her presence given that she is in commission with that regional institution.
Unofficially, it is claimed that Pérez Abad and his frontman Enrique Romero have fled to a Caribbean island or the U.S., where they own significant properties.
There, the regional manager explained to us that we “must” sign our resignation for having overdrawn our credit cards with the institution since the increase in the credit limit that we legally used was a “malicious error,” of which we had no knowledge at the time of using the financial instrument. We asked the regional manager if the “error” could be rectified by paying the overdraft; we also asked if cancelling the credit card could fix the error, but for them, the only solution was to sign the “voluntary and irrevocable resignation.” And she made it very clear that if we did not sign said letter, she had already contacted the SEBIN to have us arrested for aggravated fraud against Banco Bicentenario.
It is worth noting how a regional manager of a “people’s bank” has the power and authority to have “on call” the SEBIN to arrest and “take away in handcuffs” (in her own words) employees who have given their best skills for the proper functioning of the institution, just for having used the credit card the institution itself issued and increased “by error” its credit limit. Hopefully, someone from the SEBIN, Banco Bicentenario, or the Lara State Government can provide an explanation for such an abuse against us as employees.
On March 15, 2019, investigative journalist Casto Ocando indicated that Miguel Pérez Abad was supposedly in Miami cooperating with the authorities. However, Banco Bicentenario stated on Twitter on the same date that Pérez was participating in meetings with the Superintendency of Banking Sector Institutions (Sudeban), the regulatory body for banking activity in Venezuela, “to guarantee the operation of financial institutions.”
Despite the journalist’s publication, some Venezuelan media also reported that Pérez had been participating for three consecutive days in alleged meetings with Sudeban.
Again in July 2020, rumors about Miguel Pérez Abad’s escape from Venezuela due to the so-called “Tarjeta-gate” scandal resurfaced. It is said that Pérez left Venezuela, heading to the Dominican Republic, and then landed in the United States, arriving in Florida.
Information suggests that politically, Miguel Pérez Abad has had rivalries with other Chavista figures, such as Tarek William Saab and Diosdado Cabello. In Saab’s case, the current Attorney General of Venezuela appointed by the official National Constituent Assembly, it is said that the rivalry stems from a contest for the governorship of Anzoátegui province, previously held by Saab and disputed by Pérez Abad in internal elections of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), where both have been members and where Pérez aspired to be a candidate in Saab’s place.
Regarding his alleged rivalry with Diosdado Cabello, the second most powerful figure in Chavismo in Venezuela, the reason is said to be the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Pérez Abad’s son in an accident. On August 19, 2017, a Lear Jet YV3191 crashed into the waters near the Venezuelan coast, carrying as passengers businessman Luis Napoleón Picardi Flores and Pérez’s son. The incident also resulted in the deaths of pilot Nelson Bejarano, co-pilot Joan Marrero, and Juvencio Carvajal, Picardi’s security chief. It was never clarified if the authorities managed to recover the bodies, and the reasons for the accident remained unknown, though rumors suggested that the incident might have been intentional.
A complaint against the architect of the Petro, Gabriel Jiménez Marrón, and the relatives of Banco Bicentenario’s president Miguel Pérez Abad was presented years ago before the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) and the U.S. diplomatic representation, with the goal of investigating them for various crimes ranging from treason to money laundering from corruption.
According to a report by journalist Maibort Petit dated August 24, 2018, for the media El Tiempo Latino, two complaints were filed before the National Constituent Assembly and the U.S. Embassy in Caracas regarding irregularities associated with the Petro, the cryptocurrency designed by Nicolás Maduro’s government, as well as money laundering.
On an unspecified date, lawyer Marcos Alberto Ascanio Salinas, affiliated with Chavismo, submitted to the ANC president, Diosdado Cabello Rondón, and to María Alejandra Díaz, an accusation accompanied by a request for criminal, civil, and administrative investigations of what he considers a presumed criminal organization that has caused, according to him, devastating effects on the country, “generated by the committing of multiple punishable acts (…) whose fundamental purpose was, in our opinion, to enrich themselves and betray the Homeland.”
On an unspecified date, lawyer Marcos Alberto Ascanio Salinas, affiliated with Chavismo, submitted to the ANC president, Diosdado Cabello Rondón, and to María Alejandra Díaz, an accusation accompanied by a request for criminal, civil, and administrative investigations of what he considers a presumed criminal organization that has caused, according to him, devastating effects on the country, “generated by the committing of multiple punishable acts (…) whose fundamental purpose was, in our opinion, to enrich themselves and betray the Homeland.”
He believed that the individuals he indicated are responsible for directing and acting against Venezuela’s interests under the protection of some public officials.
On August 6, 2018, before the U.S. diplomatic representation, specifically to chargé d’affaires James Story, Ascanio Salinas denounced the relatives of former Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Miguel Pérez Abad, namely Juan Carlos and Teodoro Santiago Pérez Abad, holders of IDs V-8338794 and V-8327536, respectively, legal representatives of companies in Venezuela that have benefited from a series of contracts awarded for both procurement and projects, in bolívares and dollars by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., PDVSA.
The complaint noted that these individuals “have allegedly constituted themselves to fraudulently take advantage of the awarding and liquidation of preferential foreign exchange without having complied with the proper use of the funds for what they were requested, which is why they are presumed to be engaged in illegal currency practices, tax fraud, fraudulent acquisition of foreign exchange, conspiracy to commit crimes, money laundering, among other offenses. This group of people managed to defraud the Nation and, of course, Venezuelans.” A set of individuals and companies would be colluding with the Pérez Abad family.
Furthermore, Ascanio Salinas believed that the Pérez Abad family had violated the U.S. Patriot Act by utilizing the financial system for money laundering derived from the aforementioned fraudulent oil contracts.
He also referred to Manoly Giunonna Ramírez Navarro and Nelson Rafael Bustamante Abidar being interconnected with the Pérez Abad family, who in turn are shareholders of the following companies based in the United States: JMC International Solutions LLC, Big Bus Constructions LLC, TPY USA LLC, Aventuras OPH LLC, Boynton OPH LLC, Delray OPH LLC, FT. Laurderdale OPH LLC, Jensen OPH LLC, OPH Global LLC, PH Gardens OPH LLC, Royal Palm OPH LLC, Artesanos LLC, Doral OPH LLC, Eluh Management Solutions LLC, Metagames Interactive Entertainment and Marketing Solutions INC, Metagames Interactive Marketing Solutions LLC, Plantation OPH LLC, SWR OPH LLC, TPS Outsourcing and Services Coral Springs LLC, TPS Outsourcing and Services LLC.
In Panama, they would operate through Metals Business Corporation INC, International Harvester Tractors INC, and Strong Investment House INC.
Manoly Giunonna Ramírez Navarro and Nelson Rafael Bustamante Abidar appear as employees of EMPIRE ORIENTE C.A., JMCMOTO C.A., JJPérez Alemán y CIA, C.A., and Mayor La Algaida C.A., all based in Venezuela and represented by the Pérez Abad family. Another company of the family is Total Moto CA.
In Florida, Teodoro Santiago Pérez Abad is listed as a director of the companies LATITUD NORTH PORT HOMES, LLC and IM-SUMEDICAL, LLC; while in Panama he appears on the board of MAYOR LA ALGAIDA, S.A. Juan Carlos Pérez Abad, for his part, is shown as a director of EMPIRE ORIENTE, S.A., a Panamanian firm used in Venezuela for the sale of motorcycles with parts from China, assembled in Venezuelan territory.
In 1997, Teodoro Pérez Abad was accused in Venezuela of participating in a real estate scam in the residential complex Villa Terracota II, in Barcelona city, Anzoátegui state. The case remained unpunished due to corruption within Venezuelan judicial administration.
Teodoro Pérez Abad
Ascanio Salinas also indicated that the Pérez Abad family was involved in violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He asserted that the Pérez Abad family was involved in laundering capital from corruption.
Other controversies also engulfing former minister Miguel Pérez Abad include the irregular issuance of credit cards from Banco Bicentenario de Venezuela, which were used for dollar purchases abroad, without the cardholders supposedly having paid their debt to the financial institution. It is reported that despite the complaints, the case was not adequately investigated.
The Pérez Abad family owned J.J. Pérez Alemán, a furniture and appliance store located in Lechería, Eastern Venezuela, which was sold to the Dagga Mujamad family for the establishment of a Multimax store branch, in front of which stands businessman Nasar Ramadan Dagga Mujamad. J.J. Pérez Alemán imported appliances and other products through the port located in Guanta city for sale in its stores in Lechería and Cumaná.
