Prosecutor's Office requests the file of the investigation for tax fraud against the wife of Morodo, former ambassador to Venezuela

The Tax Agency does not appreciate fraud in the operation for which it would have stopped entering 1 million euros for the 2016 personal income tax

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid has indicated to the Investigating Court number 20 of Madrid that it does not oppose the filing of the case opened against Cristina Cañeque, wife of the former Spanish ambassador in Venezuela Raúl Morodo, given that according to a report from the Tax Agency " the possibility of appreciating the existence of fraudulent intent is ruled out" in the 2016 personal income tax.

The cause originated in the National Court, where in February 2022 the instructor of the 'Morodo case' sent a report from the Tax Agency to the Senior Investigating Court of Madrid on a company titled by Cañeque, called MS Trading España SL, so that inquire whether a tax offense had occurred.

Now, after a year, the Public Ministry echoes in its letter, to which Europa Press has had access, a Treasury report linked to the investigation in January 2023 in which it says regarding Cañeque that "it does not appreciate the existence of fraud" in the investigated operation for which the tax authorities would have stopped entering 1 million euros for the 2016 personal income tax.

Thus, the prosecutor explains that since the Tax Agency has modified its initial criteria and discards the intention to defraud due to the difficulties in appreciating a valid economic reason, he understands that the matter is submitted to the scope of administrative tax collection, regardless of criminal law.

However, the Public Ministry qualifies, this file is not detrimental to the actions that the Tax Agency wants to undertake so that Cañeque proceeds with the fiscal regularization through the corresponding route.

Although the Prosecutor's Office relies on a recent report from the Treasury to request the file, previously another report from the Tax Agency issued in the framework of the investigation that is being followed in the National Court against Morodo was the one that served to start this case in the Madrid courts.

In that document it was indicated that although it could not be inferred that the activity and assets of the company were "related to the funds obtained illegally and coming from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) through the network of the spouse and son of Cristina Cañeque", it could be ensured that "serious accounting and fiscal irregularities are observed in the company".

In her report, the expert indicated that there were "undeclared income by the company", from Cañeque and his children that should be subject to verification and investigation inspection actions since, in addition, in the case of MS Trading and the ex-ambassador's wife "could lead to the existence of a tax crime due to its amount and consideration".

Thus, it pointed out that "although MS Trading has been able to receive certain amounts from PDVSA through the companies" of the former ambassador and his son Alejo Morodo Cañeque, "these receipts may have an impact on the tax regularization that is practiced on the company in an inspection check". "MS Trading has been used as a vehicle for tax evasion through various means," the expert pointed out at the time.

And he added that some of them had been capital increases made with non-monetary contributions arbitrarily valued by the entity and that possibly served "to bring out undeclared income from his partner", Cristina Cañeque herself.

Now, the prosecutor indicates that, in addition to the fact that it should be filed for Cañeque, he does not see a criminal offense in MS Trading either. "It is evident that with respect to the company, the existence of a criminal offense cannot be affirmed," he indicates, to later add that with respect to 2018, "in any case, the filing of the proceedings" is appropriate. About 2017, he points out that the company stopped entering 324,014 euros for corporate tax.

It so happens that the judge of the National Court Alejandro Abascal has proposed trying the former ambassador of Spain in Venezuela Raúl Morodo, his son Alejo Morodo and the latter's wife, Ana Catalina Varandas, for the alleged crimes of fraud Public Treasury that they would have committed between 2013 and 2017.

In the order to pass to abbreviated procedure, collected by Europa Press, the person in charge of the Central Court of Instruction Number 1 attributes to those investigated an aggravated crime against the Public Treasury. In the case of the former ambassador for the 2014 financial year, her son for the years 2013 and 2014 and her daughter-in-law for the 2013, 2014 and 2017 financial years.

This piece for which they will go to trial is part of the investigation that is being followed in the National Court, and that has its origin in the complaint that the Prosecutor's Office filed in January 2019 for alleged crimes of money laundering and crimes against the Treasury Public against Raúl Morodo, his son and other individuals and legal entities related to both.

In that letter, the Venezuelans Carlos Adolfo Prada Gómez and Juan Carlos Márquez Cabrera (who died during the investigation) were also pointed out, in addition to other natural and legal persons from their family and business environment.

The initial investigations focused on the more than 4.5 million euros that Morodo and his closest circle would have received between 2011 and 2015 from the public company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) "lacking real justification and commercial logic."