Ministers face trial after ‘funding lavish lifestyle with public money’
£1.57 billion ‘embezzled’ from oil firm in Venezuela
More than 150 bottles of Dom Perignon and Taittinger champagne, exclusive Italian furniture, stays in the presidential suites of five-star hotels around the world and a brand-new helicopter costing £2 million...
This was just part of the shopping list allegedly drawn up by a coterie of Venezuelan ministers and officials who indulged their love of luxury for years – at the expense of the state energy company.
Over a five-year period, 30 people are accused of siphoning £1.57 billion from Petróleos de Venezuela, the oil company of this left-wing South American republic.
Court documents have revealed a passion for the best things in life among the alleged fraudsters in a country where the oilexport-dependent economy has since crumbled, runaway inflation has made the state currency Bolivar largely useless, and most Venezuelans suffer from shortages in basic goods.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled – mostly to Spain – as the economy nose-dives and the unpopular President, Nicolás Maduro, has resorted to repression to retain control.
All the accused deny money laundering and embezzling money from a state company but, against the backdrop of the parlous state of Venezuela’s economy, their alleged spending spree is highly embarrassing.
Bills for presidential suites at luxury hotels came to £1.41m. Tailored suits and other clothes cost £ 1.02m. Some £599,854 was spent on private jets from Venezuela to Nicaragua, and private gym membership cost £306,157.
However, perhaps the oddest item on this list was not nights out, women or drugs but…cooking courses. The bill for learning how to rustle up a good pabellón criollo, the most famous Venezuelan dish, came to a staggering £339,196.
Five thousand miles away from Caracas, these bills and bank transfers form part of an investigation led by a judge in Andorra into this £1.57bn fraud case.
To many people, Andorra is a tiny principality hidden in the Pyrenees and popular for ski holidays. However, away from the pistes, a judge is leading the probe because the monies were allegedly deposited by the network in the Private Bank of Andorra between 2007 and 2012.
The details of the court papers, which have been published by Spain’s El País newspaper, offer a tantalising view into a lifestyle most Venezuelans can only dream of.
Despite the charms of Venezuela, the accused – who comprised ministers and former officials of the energy company – had a taste for travel.
In 2014, the organisation paid £1.42m to a travel agent in Florida, USA, so they could embark on 20 exclusive stays at the Four Seasons in Paris, Mexico and New York, and the Sheraton in Frankfurt.
There were also stays at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, the Bristol Hotel in Panama, the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai and holiday complexes in the Bahamas and Cancun in Mexico.
These resorts offered clients a personal butler, visits to the Caribbean, luxury rooms and infinity pools.
Not content with luxurious holidays, they splashed out £41m on 21 homes and spent £5.5m on decorating the properties.
An Italian furniture company was paid £1.02m for making wardrobes then sending them thousands of miles from Italy to Venezuela. One of the dining rooms was decked out at a cost of £1.1m.
While their compatriots struggled to get by on basic wages back in Venezuela, the accused were said to have spent £119,526 on 60 black tuxedos, shirts and 30 bow-and-sash sets, according to investigators.
The network had a thirst for the high life so they bought 153 bottles of 2004 Dom Pérignon champagne at £102,322 another 23 cases of Taittinger champagne for £23,256 and spent £43,332 on whisky. All was put on the expense account of the energy company.
Most outlandish, perhaps, was the £2.06m purchase of a new Eurocopter EC135 helicopter with room for six people and a pilot in 2011.
Among those involved in the alleged scam were two former ministers – Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado.
The alleged “treasurer” of the organisation, Luis Mariano Rodriguez Cabello, was a businessman. He was said to have acted as a front man for Diego Salazar, the cousin of the former energy minister.
In a country like Venezuela, where the rule of law is under threat, the accused were unused to being investigated.
A Spanish lawyer, who represents one of the defendants, told The Sunday Post: “My client said, ‘can’t we just pay off the judge and be done with it?’ At first, I thought he was joking. Then I realised he was serious. It was how they did it in their country.
“I had to explain to him that things were not done that way in Europe.”
Their alleged modus operandi was to charge any clients of the state energy company 10% commission then siphon off this cash. The Chinese were always charged this money.
Through a series of 30 front companies based in countries like Switzerland and Belize, the network moved the money to Andorra.
Until 2017, the principality had a culture of banking secrecy akin to Switzerland. The organisation camouflaged its activities by stating that it was carrying out “assessment work” in Andorra, according to investigators.
This work, however, never happened, investigators said.
No date has been set for the trial.