A former Venezuelan deputy minister asks the judge of 'Caranjuez' to summon former DAO Eugenio Pino to testify

He maintains that he was the chief of the police officers now under investigation and that he met with him to deliver documentation

MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Vice Minister of Electrical Development of Venezuela Javier Alvarado Ochoa has asked the judge of the 'Caranjuez case', in which an alleged network of police officers and lawyers is being investigated that would have offered services to former officials of the Government of Hugo Chávez in exchange for money and information of Podemos, to summon the former Deputy Director of Operations (DAO) of the National Police Eugenio Pino to testify.

In a letter, issued this Friday and to which Europa Press has had access, Alvarado's lawyer has asked the head of the Investigating Court Number 29 of Madrid to call Pino to testify, "well as a witness, well as an investigator" in the framework of the ongoing investigations into the alleged extortion plot and/or fraud against former senior officials in Venezuela by police officers.

The legal team of the former deputy minister has explained that "Pino was identified by Alvarado as the highest-ranking person with whom he met and to whom he delivered hundreds of documents related to the illegal activities that Alvarado had knowledge of had been carried out In Venezuela".

As they have underlined, "these documents, surprisingly, ended up in the possession of the United States Attorney's Office and were provided by it in the extradition case that was followed in front of Alvarado before the National High Court."

In addition, they have recalled that Pino, at the time the events that are now being investigated began to be committed, was Deputy Director of Operations of the National Police "and, therefore, the highest hierarchical superior of some of those investigated."

The Venezuelan ex-charge has presented this petition after on September 30 he appeared as allegedly harmed in court before Judge Cristina Díaz Márquez.

Legal sources present at the interrogation told Europa Press that, on that occasion, the former deputy minister assured that he had been extorted by an alleged police network and also indicated that Pino -- who is not listed as being investigated in the case -- asked him for information regarding Podemos in two meetings in which other agents of the Corps were present.

Specifically, Alvarado assured that he had two meetings with Pino for at least four hours each, in which the police command told him: "What do you have about Podemos?"

The Venezuelan placed Pino outside the alleged network now under investigation, but stressed that part of the documentation he provided to the ex-DAO in those meetings was later reflected in the complaint that, he said, was filed by the Ilocad office on behalf of Petróleos de Venezuela ( PDVSA) before the National High Court. Said complaint was filed against Alvarado Ochoa himself and twenty other people and is still being investigated in the Central Court of Instruction Number 3.

Within the framework of his brief, Alvarado has also asked the judge to summon to testify, "well as witnesses, well as investigated", the two Police inspectors who sign the report of the Fiscal and Economic Crime Unit (UDEF). ) of January 31, 2019 that has now contributed to the cause.

The former deputy minister has defended that said document "commits a series of errors or falsehoods so serious and harmful" that "they could well be considered as a continuation of the criminal acts" of which he says he has been harmed. Among other issues, the Venezuelan former charge has stressed that the aforementioned report contains "false" information about his Spanish nationality.

Likewise, Alvarado has requested that a rogatory commission be issued to the United States so that prosecutor Sarah Edwards be called to testify as a witness or as an investigator. The former deputy minister has assured that one of those investigated in the Plaza Castilla case referred to her as "the person from her team in the United States."

In the police reports that appear in the investigation, and to which this agency had access, it is said that the now accused would have approached several Venezuelans who were allegedly related to money laundering activities "in order to request money in exchange for asserting the alleged ability to influence public bodies, such as the Executive Service for the Prevention of Money Laundering --Sepblac-- or the National Police itself", to "solve the problems" that would have to be investigated.

In addition to asking for money in exchange for said "influence", the members of the network were also "interested" in being provided with "information on the Podemos political party and its possible links with Venezuela, among other information", according to a report by the Central Brigade for the Investigation of Money Laundering and Anti-Corruption drafted in 2020.

Said report, in addition, maintains that the network that is now being investigated in the Plaza de Castilla Courts is made up mainly of national and local police officers, lawyers, and an ex-military officer; and would have received "millions of euros from Venezuelan citizens related to criminal activities." Most appeared before the judge on October 6.

The agents maintain that the ways of receiving funds by those investigated "have been varied": from fictitious contracts and invoices, cash deliveries and the use of anonymous electronic means of payment. "They have had in common that these have been facilitated by the criminal organization and have served to transfer funds to Spain that had their origin in illicit activities," they said.

So far, there are three alleged victims in the case: Alvarado, a financial advisor named Dimas Antúnez and a former member of the Venezuelan Intelligence Service named Carlos Aguilera.

Within the framework of the investigation, the judge also agreed to charge thirty companies as legal persons. In this case, she has not yet established when the interrogations of the legal representatives of the investigated companies will take place.