Rafael Ramírez was one of the men closest to former President Hugo Chávez and he was in one of the most important positions: president of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and minister of Energy and Petroleum. That is, at the center of money and power in Venezuela.
(Also read: Venezuela investigates “megafraud” in state-owned PDVSA)
Ramírez came to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum from 2002 to 2014 and was at the head of the oil company from 2004 to 2014. In 2013 he was vice president of the Council of Ministers for the Economic Area. Maduro appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2014 and that same year appointed him as ambassador to the United Nations until 2017.
“We are going with the Bolivarian vision of Chávez to fulfill our task of defending the right to peace and the sovereignty of the peoples in the world… that is why I have appointed comrade Rafael Ramírez to assume directly as ambassador of our country in New York before the UN,” Maduro announced on Twitter.
But that same year Ramírez urged the government to make a “deep review” and said he was leaving the UN. He also through Twitter he made the announcement: “I must inform you that yesterday, December 4, 2017, I have resigned, at the request of the President of the Republic, my position as Ambassador Permanent of Venezuela before the UN. I have been removed for my opinions. I will remain, no matter what happens, loyal to Comandante Chávez.”
After that, Ramírez’s whereabouts were a complete mystery. He was only known about through opinion columns on digital portals in which he wrote against madurismo. He also has a Youtube channel where he regularly uploads content.
Since he began his criticism, the madurismo has made accusations against him.
Now, they accuse him of a “megafraud” for 4,850 million dollars in the state oil company. The Oil Minister, Tareck El Aissami, presented evidence to the Public Ministry.
This investigation ensures that Ramírez is responsible for several transfers for a total of 4,850 million dollars for a loan contracted in February 2012 with the private company Atlantic 17,107 AC, but that they never reached PDVSA.
The investigation indicates that Atlantic ceded that line of credit to foreign “funds” Violet and Vuelca, based in Panama and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, respectively. And these new “creditors” of PDVSA received the payments of a credit that did not materialize, always according to the government.
(Also read: Armando Benedetti: “The biggest bull for Gustavo Petro will be Venezuela”)
The minister said he had delivered as evidence to the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, “certified copies” of the payment receipts, a total of 28 transfers, to Violet and Vuelca. The official defined the maneuver as a “mega fraud.”
Through Twitter, the former minister defended himself against the accusations and wrote: “As I had warned hours before, the government launched another rotten pot against me. Tarek El Aisami, wanted and punished by international justice for serious crimes, including drug trafficking, which removes all legitimacy from their accusations”.
El Aissami said that the plot was “orchestrated” by Rafael Ramírez, the target of corruption investigations since 2017, in a judicial offensive that has since brought about a hundred arrests of former directors of the state company.
The government threw another rotten pot at me
The attorney general, in fact, reported hours later on the arrest of the former Vice President of Finance of the state company, Víctor Aular, also accused of embezzlement, while announcing the start of an investigation into this “corruption plot.”
According to Saab, the former director of PDVSA “signed the loan contract with the administrator Atlantic, responsible for an embezzlement of close to 5 billion dollars.
According to press records, in 2020, a Swiss court delivered banking documents to the United States revealing a corruption scheme that also involves bankers Luis Oberto and Ignacio Oberto, businessman Alejandro Betancourt and his cousin Francisco Convit, in addition to of the former Vice Minister of Energy, Nervis Villalobos.
In 2016, the National Assembly of Venezuela prepared a report on the corruption cases that involved 11,000 million dollars during the management of Ramírez, also known as “the oil czar”. However, the Supreme Court of Justice annulled the process.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported in February 2021 that it issued a red alert from Interpol so that
Ramírez was captured in Italy, where he was, but that country denied the possibility of extradition in September, according to his lawyer.
ANA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACASWith information from AFP
More news
The revaluation of the dollar sows great doubts about the recovery of Venezuela
It will be measured in primaries: Popular Will agrees to Juan Guaidó as a candidate
#Rafael #Ramírez #Chavista #accused #embezzling #PDVSA