BES involved in Venezuelan money-laundering and payment of bribes

Authorities in Portugal, Andorra and Spain, in addition to the United States, are investigating dozens of Venezuelan citizens suspected of laundering hundreds of millions of euros allegedly obtained from bribes when they held positions in public companies under the presidency of Hugo Chávez.

The former Vice Minister of Energy in the Chavez administration, Nervis Villalobos, was in Madrid last week for laundering money allegedly diverted from the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A..

Two money was shuffled from one country to another, including tax havens, using a web of corporate structures.

Villalobos was detained with three others including Luis Fernando Vuteff, the son-in-law of Antonio Ledezma from the Venezuelan opposition part and an ex-mayor of Caracas, who purchased 115 properties valued at €60 million in Marbella and Madrid.

They did so in large part through the company Columbus Properties One, promoter of foreclosed properties, which was financed by capital managed by Swiss Invest, whose clients include former Venezuelan officials.

Funds from Venezuela used to be routed through Portugal, Andorra, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, as well as other tax havens such as Belize or Mauritius, through "complex business structures, without justification from a fiscal or financial point of view," sources explain.

Once in Spain, money was invested in real estate, as is the case of Villalobos, including a property in the luxurious urbanization of La Moraleja in Madrid, the scene of his arrest.

Those under investigation have been claiming that were dedicated civil servants and had made money in the private sector, especially with consultancy work for Venezuelan public companies. It is from these that they allegedly received the stolen funds.

In Portugal, an investigation is underway being carried out on funds from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A and other public companies managed by Banco Espirito Santo which went bust in 2014. Funds were partly diverted to tax havens to allegedly bribe Venezuelan officials.

The theft of funds from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A, considered the biggest case of corruption that has been uncovered from the Chavez years, also is being investigated in Venezuela where almost a hundred public company officials, including two former ministers and directors of several subsidiaries, have been arrested or are being sought.

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