The issue of corruption in Venezuela is truly epic. While the Russian oligarchy (referring to the criminals who became millionaires and billionaires through the privatization of state enterprises acquired for mere pennies or on credit) is known internationally, the Venezuelan oligarchy is less recognized, even though the amounts stolen could easily compete in the global league of misappropriation of public resources. In this latest investigation, I have uncovered that our corruption extends to our sister republic of Colombia.
The young man who signed the agreement in the presence of Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angeles Holguin, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, and other members of both countries’ cabinets, is a guy named Alex Saab (also known as Alex Nain Saab Morán, Colombian ID no.: 72180017). The narrator presents Saab as the “legal representative” of Fondo Global de Construcción. The press reported the event like this: Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chávez, and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, signed a trade agreement on Monday to grant tariff preferences for products imported from both nations. The agreement aims to “remove tariff barriers on those products where we can have an impact on trade volume with the goal of increasing it,” said Santos at the end of a meeting in Caracas with Chávez, specifying that this pact “replaces the regulatory framework of the CAN”… Corpivensa and the Fondo Global de Construcción S.A.S from the neighboring country agreed to establish and install kits for the construction of prefabricated polyethylene houses.
The agreement signed between Chávez and Santos, specifically regarding the Fondo Global de Construcción, aims to: “define the terms and minimum conditions for the planning, coordination, and execution of activities directed at the establishment of a mixed-capital company domiciled in Venezuela with the purpose of setting up a factory for the construction of prefabricated houses made of expanded polyethylene and welded meshes. This mixed-capital company will handle the importation, exportation, assembly, manufacturing, processing, storage, sale, distribution, and disposal of machinery and implements for construction, assembled with imported or national components.”
It seems that in Ecuador, the impression of Fondo Global de Construcción and its representative is not so favorable. Recently, Ecuador’s Attorney General, Galo Chiriboga, stated that FOGLOCONS might be involved in a scandal of misappropriation of foreign currency: “Chiriboga explained that one of the cases the Prosecutor’s Office has acted upon is that of Fondo Global de Construcción. This company, which exported prefabricated construction material, was established in 2012 and received $135,097,898 from Venezuela, although its actual exports would have been $3,190,100. Last Wednesday, the Prosecutor’s Office requested Judge Nelson de la Cadena to take measures, and he ordered the retention of $47 million from an account of that company. Chiriboga mentioned that the information has been forwarded to Venezuelan authorities via a delegation that traveled to that country, including him and members of the BCE, SRI, and the Financial Analysis Unit.
Another news report published in El Telégrafo adds: The Attorney General’s Office requested the blocking of a $47 million transfer through bank remittances that was to be made via the Regional Unit Compensation System (Sucre) between Ecuador and Venezuela. Galo Chiriboga, Attorney General of the Nation, reported that the Anti-Narcotics National Direction’s Asset Laundering Unit requested yesterday the retention of funds from a bank account that Banco Amazonas has at the Central Bank of Ecuador, related to the company Fondo Global de Construcción S.A. Foglocons, incorporated in 2012. Regarding this company, Chiriboga noted that the information provided by the shareholders and general manager of this entity to the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) and the Companies Superintendent is erroneous or false. He indicated that this company has failed to demonstrate what its production activities are, despite its stated objective of constructing prefabricated houses. “This company registers remittances through the Sucre system with Venezuela for $135,097,898.87, reporting $200,000 as export suppliers. Meanwhile, the National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae) records foreign trade operations FOB for $3,190,100.80.”
According to consulted sources in Ecuador, Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman in charge of FOGLOCONS (whose pages http://fondoglobaldeconstrucciones.org/category/fondo-global-de-construc…, and http://alexsaabempresario.com/alex-saab have been suspended since the Ecuadorian prosecutor made the complaints) would have had help from the Venezuelan Luis Eduardo Sánchez Yánez in some businesses. Sánchez Yánez is linked to three companies in Spain (Madrid):
– Chapelin Inversiones SL (http://www.empresia.es/empresa/chapelin-inversiones/)
– Fondo Global Petróleo SL (http://www.empresia.es/empresa/fondo-global-petroleo/)
– Fondo Global Agrícola SL (http://www.empresia.es/empresa/fondo-global-agricola)
In all of these, he is partnered with:
– Guillermo Alfredo Montefusco (http://www.empresia.es/persona/montefusco-guillermo-alfredo/)
– Carlos Felipe Perez Castro (http://www.empresia.es/persona/perez-castro-carlos-felipe/)
– Victoria Belen Pipino (Spanish lawyer from the firm Axioma Abogados)
Fondo Global Agrícola and Fondo Global Petróleo have as their sole partner/owner:
– Fondo Global Holding Limited (owned by Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas mentioned earlier)
Guillermo Alfredo Montefusco is also associated with Carlos Felipe Pérez Castro in another company:
– FGDC Aviation Corp (http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/fgdc-aviation-corp/13465907…)
– M.L.U.B. Wealth Plus (in this one he is NOT ASSOCIATED with Pérez Castro: http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/mlub-wealth-plus-corp/13465…)
Carlos Felipe Pérez Castro is additionally related to:
– 9060206 LLC (http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/9060206-llc/25812806.aspx)
– Intersec Casa de Bolsa (http://www.cnv.gob.ve/rnv_nueva/fichaempresa.php?ente=115&tipo_empresa=2) see also (http://www.intersec.com.ve/somos.html).
According to financial reports from the National Securities Commission, Intersec would have -in 2013- $158 million in accounts receivable (https://extranet.cnv.gob.ve/interno/aplicaciones/sival/formas/html/sc/fo…) which is a similar amount to that reported by the Ecuadorian prosecutor. In any case, to carry out the scam with the Regional Unit Compensation System (SUCRE), it is necessary to have financial entities that process requests for foreign currency with CADIVI and the Central Bank of Venezuela.
Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas is also associated with two companies in Panama:
– Drogueria Distribuidor de Productos Medicos (DIPROMEDI)
– Fondo Agroindustrial de Alimentos (FAGRINAL)
Despite the allegations in Ecuador and Venezuela regarding the misappropriation of millions of dollars through the SUCRE (in which FOGLOCONS would be implicated), the prosecutors in both countries have yet to announce results from possible investigations.
The meteoric rise of Saab, from having a company with two employees registered four days before signing agreements in the presence of the Presidents of Venezuela and Colombia, to receiving millions of dollars through public contracts, is attributed by consulted sources to his good relations with Senator Piedad Córdoba, who had a direct line and was financed by the Venezuelan caudillo (through the PEQUIVEN subsidiary, Monómeros Colombo Venezolanos), and still has good contacts with the current President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Sources inform that Saab and Pulido claim to have a bank on the island of Dominica called ASA Bank & Trust (also described as FGC Bank & Trust). There is no bank or company registered with those names in Dominica’s registry. However, there is a company called FGC Corporation, which could be behind ASA Bank & Trust, using Credit Corp from Panama as a correspondent bank. Saab’s accounts, Fondo Global de Construcción, and its subsidiaries across various jurisdictions would be spread among Compagnie Bancaire Helvethique, EFG Bank, Credit Suisse, BANIF from Portugal, as well as banks in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.
The website asabank.com was registered by a certain Jorge Monto, and its registration address is a virtual office in Miami. The email used for the registration is [email protected]. That email belongs to Venezuelan pilot David Peña Márquez.
Saab travels in a private jet, model N259FG, which makes frequent trips between the airports of Bogotá and Barranquilla in Colombia, and Valencia and Maiquetia in Venezuela. Senator Piedad Córdoba is reportedly a frequent passenger on these flights. But here are a couple of questions to ask, not directed at Chavismo, but at President Juan Manuel Santos and his cabinet:
– Who conducted the due diligence on Alex Saab and his Fondo Global de Construcción?
– How was it allowed for a company registered just four days before those agreements, and without any record anywhere, to participate in such contracts?