The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela won the lawsuit over the possession of its assets illegally withheld by the financial entity Novo Banco S.A in Portugal.
The Judicial Court of the District of Lisbon issued this Wednesday the sentence that obliges the financial institution of that country, Novo Banco S.A. to return to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela more than 2 billion dollars that were illegally blocked in 2019.
In that year, Novo Banco unilaterally terminated the bank account contracts of Pdvsa, Pdvsa Petróleo, Servicios Pdvsa, Bariven, Petrocedeño, Petromonagas and Petropiar, as well as with Bandes and Bandes Uruguay, alleging “political uncertainty” in Venezuela and its alleged “doubts” regarding the legitimate representatives of the country.
The action was part of the negotiations carried out by the lawyers appointed by Juan Guaidó to illegally withhold the money in exchange for financial commissions with the commitment not to move the money in a certain time.
In this operation they acted together with Juan Guaidó, the “fake attorney” José Ignacio Hernández, as well as the members of the “Ad Hoc Administration Boards” in complicity with the opposition majority of the Venezuelan Parliament elected in 2015.
Venezuela sued Novo Banco in June 2020 before the Central Civil Court of Lisbon to return the funds illegally withheld due to the cancellation of the accounts, on that occasion “representatives” of Guaidó objected, raising a conflict of representation.
With this Wednesday’s sentence, the Court assumes that the bank did not respect international law, disowning the legitimate Venezuelan State, administrator of the resources, represented by the constitutional government of President Nicolás Maduro Moros.
According to the ruling issued by the Court, the financial entity must repay the money withheld in the bank accounts of the respective affected instances.
On April 16, 2019, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, demanded Portugal to return these funds, which were then necessary for the purchase of food and medicines amidst the covid-19 pandemic.
The blocking of these Novo Banco accounts also caused the death of children who benefited from the marrow treatment aid program.
Novo Bank S.A. aligned with the policy of unilateral coercive measures of the United States (USA) against Venezuela to remedy its precarious financial situation using Venezuelan financial resources for this purpose under the protection of the self-proclaimed “interim government” of Venezuela.
