Will Europe’s bankers be Sitting in the Dock in Caracas for Money Laundering?
Some of the most influential Venezuelan opposition leaders in exile have stated that they intend to file criminal charges against a number of European bankers who have assisted their country’s corrupt leaders illegally move billions of dollars of government oil revenues into EU financial institutions. Prominent senior members of the Venezuelan government, working in close coordination with a number of young businessmen having close ties to the Chavez regime, (popularly known as the Bolivarian Elite) have developed sophisticated methods of draining petrodollars, and banking them outside the country. The EU bankers who have assisted them are in for a nasty shock. Who will the ax fall upon?
As the present Venezuelan government struggles to maintain the shattered economy, and ever-growing scandal after scandal rock the country, the probability that a democratic government will eventually come to power increases, and with that the risk of indictment and extradition of foreign bankers. The facts:
* Europe’s bankers are beginning to realise that they are engaging in risky behaviour by continuing to bank large balances of corrupt Venezuelan PEPs. The security chief of one of the UKs largest banks conducted an extensive enhanced due diligence investigation of a prominent Venezuelan PEP seeking to open accounts. He did not know that the individual, well known to be involved in front activity for senior government leaders, already had $1.8bn in accounts in the bank’s Panamanian branch.
* Investigators have identified 47 employees of the governmental oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, (PdVSA) as having primary roles in facilitating the movement of oil revenues to corrupt officials and their associates. Their affiliation with PdVSA is unknown to EU bankers.
* The laundering and subsequent movement of funds to FARC-controlled accounts further exposes the Euro-bankers to possible terrorist financing charges. The risk of discovery of such actions will increase exponentially when the Government of Colombia decla