The AN confirms the file of the piece of the PDVSA case related to the alleged laundering of a former Venezuelan vice minister

The Chamber focuses on the "existence of mere conjectures" and the "lack of evidence" about the alleged crimes

MADRID, 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court (AN) has confirmed the decision of judge María Tardón to archive the piece of the 'PDVSA case' in which the alleged commission of a crime of money laundering was investigated by the former Venezuelan Vice Minister of Electric Power Nervis Villalobos, his wife Milagros Coromoto Torres and Alfonso Garrido Picón, in relation to the deposit of some funds in favor of the marriage in the Spanish entity Banco de Madrid.

In an order from this same Tuesday, to which Europa Press has had access, the Criminal Chamber dismisses the appeal filed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, who requested that the investigation continue, considering that the "characteristics of opacity" did exist. characteristic of the crime of money laundering".

The Chamber supports the arguments of the head of the Central Investigating Court Number 3 and ensures that, "despite the verification procedures carried out, it has not been possible to extract sufficient evidence of possible criminal activity of those investigated with the appearance of constituting a crime of money laundering of capitals".

It was on September 1 when the magistrate agreed to the provisional dismissal of the investigation. Both Villalobos and Torres justified the aforementioned funds with an engineering "advisory contract" signed by a company controlled by the couple and located in Madeira (Portugal) --Kingsway LDA-- with another entity based in Miami (USA) --Miami Export Equipment--, directed by Luis Díaz and Luis Javier Díaz, for an amount of almost 10 million dollars.

Judge Tardón analyzed the transfers of funds between the companies controlled by Villalobos and Torres, and compared the investigations with the statements made and with the documentation provided by the defenses. Finally, she concluded that it could not be excluded that it was a "provision of services actually carried out and the payment of fees derived from them".

For the Prosecutor's Office, on the contrary, there was "relevant" evidence that it was "a structure created to simulate economic operations that supported the outcropping of illegally obtained money."

As Anticorrupción stressed, in the Villalobos y Torres account at Banco de Madrid "there are no movements related to the provision of consultancy services to other companies" and "there are no charges that allow us to verify expenses derived from work carried out, such as travel, hotel stays office expenses, etc.

"Therefore, there are the following characteristics of opacity, typical of the crime of money laundering," defended the prosecutor, who assured that the contract was "only appearance" and that there was no data, fact or milestone that would allow "to know what made by the company Kingsway, Lda to obtain the amount paid".

However, the Chamber makes clear in its order "the existence of mere conjectures or suspicions and the lack of evidence about the necessary causal link between the allegedly criminal activity and the property acquired with the alleged income from that alleged activity."

It is for these reasons, the magistrates knot, that "it is only necessary to dismiss the appeal made, confirming the appealed resolution, since it could not be distorted by the appellant Public Prosecutor."