Reuters reports that a corruption probe into Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), launched by an Audit Committee of the Venezuelan Congress, has found that "$11 billion in funds went missing from the state-run oil company while Rafael Ramirez was at the helm from 2004-14." Congressman Freddy Guevara, Chair of Congressional Committee, claimed that the sum represents "more than the (annual) budget of five Central American countries." Venezuela's Congress is now seeking to recover missing funds.
KYCTOOL provided Congressman Guevara with some of the evidence presented in a report related to the probe, including a $4.2 billion money laundering case involving Luis Oberto and Banca Privada d'Andorra, and proof of massive overcharges in $2.2 billion worth of no-bid procurement contracts given to Alejandro Betancourt, Pedro Trebbau, Francisco Convit, Francisco D'Agostino and Edgard Romero Lazo of Derwick Associates. In a related criminal case (U.S. v. Rincon-Fernandez, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 15-cr-654), Roberto Rincón pleaded guilty to bribing PDVSA officials to obtain procurement contracts worth over $1 billion. Crucially, Rincón and Derwick Associates were awarded contracts in the same period by the same clique of PDVSA officials, some of whom have already pleaded guilty in Rincón's bribe payment scheme case. Derwick Associates, and its Missouri-based subcontractor Pro Energy Services, are at the core of a wide-ranging criminal investigation involving Homeland Security, DEA, FBI, Treasury and prosecutors in Houston and the Southern District of New York, which seeks to recover assets. Swiss authorities, collaborating in the probe, have seized some $118 million in relation to the case. Sources have informed that Luis Oberto and partner Francisco Convit, have entered into collaboration agreements with investigating authorities in the U.S.
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