He was arrested in 2018, although he was later granted a precautionary measure and was prohibited from leaving the country. He now had the alternative measure of freedom revoked.
Courtesy | Saab indicated that the detainee was already undergoing a judicial process for an investigation into corruption in a bank in Andorra
Fidel Darío Ramírez, brother of the former Venezuelan oil czar Rafael Ramírez, was returned to prison as part of a wide-ranging investigation related to the use of a series of accounts in an Andorran bank suspected of laundering some 2,000 million dollars, confirmed on Sunday the Attorney General of Venezuela Tarek William Saab.
In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Saab indicated that the detainee was already undergoing a judicial process for an investigation into corruption in a bank in Andorra, a nation of 85,000 inhabitants located between Spain and France.
Andorra intervened the Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA) in 2015, following the United States accused it of helping groups from China, Russia and Venezuela to launder funds.
The brother of the former oil minister was arrested in 2018, although he was later granted a precautionary measure and was prohibited from leaving the country. The alternative measure of freedom was revoked following a special hearing on September 14 “it was possible to verify the non-compliance with the measure of periodic presentation before that court,” the Prosecutor’s Office reported in a letter, without giving other details.
The court of the case also ordered his imprisonment in a maximum security center in charge of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim),
The documentation sent by the Andorran authorities to the Venezuelan Public Ministry revealed that the brother of the former president of the state corporation Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), had an account of 250,000 euros for alleged medical services to the Venezuelan oil company, Saab said.
Fidel Darío “concluded contracts for the provision of health services for exorbitant amounts of money on a monthly basis during 2011 and 2012,” according to investigations by the Public Ministry. At that time, PDVSA was under the direction of his brother, Rafael Ramírez.
The former official did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has been mostly silent in recent days on social media, where he frequently criticizes the government of President Nicolás Maduro and its repeated efforts to link him to corruption at PDVSA.
The most recent of these attempts came earlier this month when Saab, acting in response to complaints from current oil boss Tareck El Aissami, ordered Ramírez’s arrest for his alleged role in a $5 billion scheme involving bogus loans to PDVSA by government insiders.
For years, Ramírez was one of former President Hugo Chávez’s most trusted advisers. He was charged with managing the world’s largest oil reserves at a time of rising crude prices.
After Chávez’s death, Ramírez saw his influence within the so-called “Bolivarian revolution” fade as Maduro tightened his grip on power. He has called the accusations once morest him a witch hunt in retaliation for his decision to distance himself from Maduro, whom he tried to overthrow.
Have the information instantly on your cell phone. Join the Diario Pri groupcat on WhatsApp through the following link:https://chat.whatsapp.com/G1A3T9ZMeGbLSwky655UNo
We are also on Telegram as @DiarioPrimicia, join us here:https://t.me/diaryscoop
