- Those under investigation are related to another case in which the former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Raúl Morodo, and his son are involved.
A Spanish judge has prosecuted the widow and partner of a director of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for allegedly hiding funds from the company from the Spanish Treasury.
The case is related to, but is being processed as a separate part of, the case that will put former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela Raúl Morodo and his son Alejo in the dock, who are accused of allegedly defrauding profits of almost 4.5 million euros that they obtained from their business dealings with the Venezuelan oil company between 2013 and 2014.
In the new case, Judge Francisco de Jorge of the Spanish National Court proposed to try two people linked to PDVSA executive Juan Carlos Márquez, who was found dead in the offices of a consultancy in the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) after testifying before the judge and showing his willingness to collaborate in 2019.
The judge charged the widow and her partner with two alleged crimes against the Treasury, as well as fraud and money laundering. He also included in the resolution the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to proceed with the confiscation of assets from her children, although he clarified that this section will be resolved in a sentence.
Details of the case against the accused in Spain
The Spanish prosecution case revealed that between 2007 and 2015, Márquez and his partner, Carlos Adolfo Prada, provided legal advice and mediation to PDVSA, earning them more than 22.66 million euros in 2014 and 2015, which were not declared to the Treasury.
According to the magistrate, Prada used shell companies lacking resources and commercial activity to invoice services, when in reality they were allegedly funded with funds that came from PDVSA.
The judge also estimates that between 2014 and 2015 the accused made unjustified profits of almost 250 thousand euros, which he also concealed from the Spanish Treasury.
As for the widow of the PDVSA executive, whose name was not revealed, she claimed that she participated in transfers of funds of illicit origin to foreign accounts, allegedly from gifts received in 2012 for facilitating an illicit foreign exchange business in PDVSA.
In his indictment, the Spanish judge said the defendants attempted to give the funds an appearance of legality through a complex corporate and financial network in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Switzerland and Panama.
He added that the suspects had allegedly granted simulated loan contracts in which their companies acted as lenders or borrowers, as well as other investments.
The magistrate indicated that part of the funds received, more than 2.16 million dollars, passed through various accounts opened in Switzerland in the name of intermediaries.
“The funds were ultimately transferred to an account in Switzerland opened in the name of the Panamanian foundation Ayacucho, whose beneficiary was Márquez and, failing that, his children,” the Spanish judge said.
With information from EFE
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2024-09-25 01:54:40
