(Prensa Latina, 19.Sep.2018) — The Public Prosecutor”s Office (MP) has revealed today a new corruption scheme in the state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which has caused losses of 18,500,000 dollars to the main industry of the country.
In a press conference from the MP headquarters in Caracas, Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported that there have been 17 such cases at the oil company over the past year, exposed as part of the state-sponsored anti-corruption campaign.
He noted the authorities have requested nine arrest warrants against managers and officials linked to the fraudulent purchase of 400 aluminum tanks for transporting fuels, without the appropriate technical specifications for their use in Venezuela.
During a national electrical emergency in 2010, it was decided to purchase by direct award to the Mexican entity Trailers and Aluminum Tanks of 300 cisterns, aimed at completing the fleet of the National Transport Company, subsidiary of PDVSA.
This acquisition would also serve to strengthen electric service, as they would be used to provide diesel to the country’s thermoelectric plants, said Saab.
He pointed out that PDVSA paid nearly 19,000000 dollars for 234 cisterns, of which 168 were delivered and 66 were pending, while these deposits did not fulfill the technical specifications required by PDVSA and a new contract had to be made to adapt them.
The attorney general stressed that through the investigations carried out by the Public Ministry, it was determined that the contracted adaptation was never carried out and the cisterns were unusable for their proper purpose.
Likewise, the MP is investigating another contract with the Mexican company Armadora Carrocera Caban, which does not physically exist, according to the results of the investigations.
During the last year, the Public Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted 90 PDVSA officials linked to several corruption schemes.
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