The photographs of the former oil minister and former president of PDVSA, Tareck El Aissami, handcuffed and guarded by security officials, were shown by the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek Willian Saab to social media during a press conference in which he announced the arrest.
When providing information on what he called the second phase with concrete progress in the PDVSA – Crypto case, activated after obtaining the denunciation of five witnesses, he indicated that the crimes that will be charged in the next few hours are: treason, appropriation or distraction. of public assets, boasting or valuing relationships or influences, legitimation of capital and association.
Likewise, the head of the criminal action announced that Simón Alejandro Zerpa, former Minister of Economy and Finance and former president of FONDEN, and Samark López were also arrested.
The witnesses – even those deprived of their liberty – suffered death threats, which is why they are under protection, Saab said.
They sought to demolish the economy:
He stressed that after the investigations there is no doubt in his mind that the former senior officials were linked to the Washington government, with the aim of destroying the country’s economy and causing serious damage. “It was possible to detect and dismantle a network of officials who used their positions to carry out illegal oil operations,” pointing out that they sought to generate the rise of the parallel dollar.
In this regard, he announced that the former head of PDVSA will be charged in the next few hours for very serious crimes.
These would be multimillion-dollar operations, money laundering, and even a prostitution network.
He reported that through the assignment of crude oil loads to the National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and to individuals, without any type of administrative control or guarantees, failing to comply with PDVSA contracting regulations, they managed to commit various crimes.
In addition, one of the witnesses directly links the former president of PDVSA, Rafael Ramírez, who, according to what he said, requested a house for a prostitute for 5 million bolivars, while “El Aissami’s favorite prostitute fled and is living peacefully in the United States.” said Saab.
He indicated that from the President of the Republic he had unconditional support to be able to achieve concrete judicialized progress.
There are also 17 arrest warrants and he reported that a third phase is not ruled out.
A Hard blow to corruption:
The Minister of Communication and Information, Freddy Ñañez, spoke about it on his account on the X social network highlighting that “Venezuela deals a hard blow to corruption with the arrest of former oil minister, Tareck El Aissami and Samark López. El Aissami would have direct links with agents in Washington and Miami. The plan was to demolish the economy,” he published on the social network.
“#Now Prosecutor @TarekWiliamSaab: the detainees are:
Tareck El Aissami, former oil minister and former president of PDVSA.#09Abr#AvanzaPuebloUnido pic.twitter.com/PoLij8uwaz”
— Alfred Nazareth (@luchaalmada) April 9, 2024