The Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office has reported that 61 people have now been arrested in the country for corruption within several state-owned companies as part of a series of operations launched over the last month to deal with this type of crime.
The Attorney General of the Caribbean country, Tarek William Saab, has pointed out that the operations affect public companies, the judiciary and local authorities in some areas of the country.
In total, he pointed out in a message on his Twitter account, 61 people have been arrested, while there are »20 arrest warrants to be executed and 172 raids», as he explained.
Among the latest detainees, who have had to appear in court, are some high-ranking officials of companies such as Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), some of them linked to the National Superintendence of Crypto-assets.
Saab has also detailed that in relation to PDVSA, more than fifty arrest warrants have been issued and 107 searches have been carried out. At the national level, 14 arrest warrants have been issued against officials of the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana, as well as another three warrants against several members of the company Cartones de Venezuela.
The operations to curb corruption were launched on March 17. Since then, the Anti-Corruption Police have carried out a series of investigations and arrests of high-ranking officials and businessmen linked to state-owned companies.
It was precisely as a result of the investigations into PDVSA that the now former Oil Minister Tarek el Aissami left his post last March.
For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has affirmed that the authorities have managed to recover »part of the wealth generated» by the acts of corruption in PDVSA after the arrests.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
