CARACAS (AFP) – Venezuela on Tuesday announced the arrest of ex-petroleum minister Tareck El Aissami and dozens of others in a probe into an alleged multi-million dollar crypto fraud at state oil company PDVSA.
El Aissami, formerly a key ally of President Nicolas Maduro and his late predecessor Hugo Chavez, resigned from his ministerial post a year ago and disappeared from public life.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced the arrest of El Aissami, who was also Maduro’s vice-president from 2017 to 2018, and showed reporters a photo of the 49-year-old in handcuffs.
“We have managed to reveal the direct participation” of El Aissami in the alleged crimes, said Saab, adding he would be charged “in the next few hours.”
Also arrested were former economy minister Simon Alejandro Zerpa and businessman Samark Lopez, who is wanted by authorities in the United States.
The three face charges of treason and appropriation or diversion of public funds, influence peddling, money laundering and criminal association – “a plurality of crimes that will culminate in an exemplary sanction”, vowed the prosecutor.
Dozens of officials, including top managers of Venezuela’s Sunacrip crypto regulator were also detained, said Saab, and 17 other warrants are outstanding.
Critics of the graft probe have labeled it a political purge by Maduro, who will seek re-election to a third presidential term in July elections even as he stands accused of using state institutions to sideline political challengers.
