Venezuela to seek extradition of former minister in corruption case

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela will search the extradition of a former high vitality official and launched recent authorized motion towards a former oil minister, who it’s also attempting to extradite from Europe, the state attorney-general’s workplace mentioned on Friday.

Venezuela has been attempting to extradite from Italy its as soon as highly effective oil minister and head of state oil agency Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Rafael Ramirez, and can now additionally request the extradition of former deputy vitality minister Nervis Villalobos from Spain.

The 2 former officers are being sought in reference to an investigation that facilities on alleged offers by which PDVSA paid for cash purportedly borrowed from a agency named Atlantic in 2012, the attorney-general’s workplace mentioned. However the borrowed funds by no means arrived within the firm’s coffers, inflicting it to incur $5 billion in damages, in accordance with the workplace.

PDVSA additionally paid again in {dollars} the purported quantity borrowed in bolivars, when there have been guidelines towards buying and selling in international forex, the workplace mentioned.

Ramirez had instructed Reuters in August that the accusations had been “fully false” and that each one monetary transactions throughout his tenure had been audited. Villalobos couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

Venezuela had beforehand tried to extradite Ramirez on one other corruption case, however Italy refused early this yr.

The oil agency has been going through a string of investigations, which have resulted within the 2017 arrest of a relative of Ramirez after an accusation by the USA of reference to money-laundering, and extra lately, the arrest of former PDVSA finance vice chairman Victor Aular.

The brand new extradition request will undergo Venezuelan courts earlier than reaching its international ministry, which is able to then ship the request to Spain. It can additionally renew its request to Italy, based mostly on the brand new prices.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera, enhancing by Deepa Babington)