Venezuela Arrests 2 Former Oil Officials, Claiming Corruption
- 6 years ago
Venezuela Arrests 2 Former Oil Officials, Claiming Corruption
Mr. Martínez, a former oil minister who led the oil company until this week, was detained early Thursday
and charged with seeking debt refinancing contracts without getting government approval, said Tarek William Saab, the Venezuelan attorney general.
30, 2017
CARACAS, Venezuela — Masked government agents stormed the homes of two former top officials of Venezuela’s state oil company and arrested them on Thursday, a move
that the prosecutor heralded as a blow against corruption but that others saw as a political purge to strengthen the country’s president.
Mr. Del Pino, like many of the Pdvsa officials arrested recently, was close to Rafael Ramírez, another former top official of the
oil company, who has publicly criticized Mr. Maduro this year from his post as Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. Saab described the two men as running "a cartel"
that he said "bit by bit was delivering blows to the oil industry and causing national damage." In a video posted on Mr. Del Pino’s Twitter account and apparently recorded before his arrest, he said he had been the victim of an unjustified attack.
Mr. Monaldi said that while the company had not been transparent during the tenures of Mr. Del Pino or Mr. Martínez, transgressions
such as filing inflated production figures were most likely ordered by the government itself to improve its balance sheet.
The accused men, Nelson Martínez and Eulogio del Pino, are the highest-level officials detained in a string of arrests
that have shaken the country’s troubled oil giant, Petróleos de Venezuela, and its United States refiner, Citgo.
Mr. Martínez, a former oil minister who led the oil company until this week, was detained early Thursday
and charged with seeking debt refinancing contracts without getting government approval, said Tarek William Saab, the Venezuelan attorney general.
30, 2017
CARACAS, Venezuela — Masked government agents stormed the homes of two former top officials of Venezuela’s state oil company and arrested them on Thursday, a move
that the prosecutor heralded as a blow against corruption but that others saw as a political purge to strengthen the country’s president.
Mr. Del Pino, like many of the Pdvsa officials arrested recently, was close to Rafael Ramírez, another former top official of the
oil company, who has publicly criticized Mr. Maduro this year from his post as Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. Saab described the two men as running "a cartel"
that he said "bit by bit was delivering blows to the oil industry and causing national damage." In a video posted on Mr. Del Pino’s Twitter account and apparently recorded before his arrest, he said he had been the victim of an unjustified attack.
Mr. Monaldi said that while the company had not been transparent during the tenures of Mr. Del Pino or Mr. Martínez, transgressions
such as filing inflated production figures were most likely ordered by the government itself to improve its balance sheet.
The accused men, Nelson Martínez and Eulogio del Pino, are the highest-level officials detained in a string of arrests
that have shaken the country’s troubled oil giant, Petróleos de Venezuela, and its United States refiner, Citgo.