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There's more to Raul Gorrin. The U.S. Department of Justice (bless them) has just scratched the surface. On Tuesday, December 1, 2009, Gorrin sent an email with -among others- the following instruction:
Monto 3.850.000
HSBC PRIVATE BANK (SWITZERLAND) SA 2, General Guisan CH1211 Geneve swift: BLICCHGG
Attention: Angelo Mazzarella Beneficiary Bellsite Overseas S.A Account no. 1574680
It is quite difficult to make sense of the Justice Deparment's latest in fight against Venezuelan corruption (see full release below). Alejandro Andrade got to be appointed head of Banco del Tesoro (Treasury Deparment) out of pity. It weren't Andrade's financial credentials, of which he has none, that got him the job.
So the Department of Justice (DoJ) charged Raul Gorrin last night with money laundering. Readers of this site sort of knew that was coming. Alejandro Andrade, Claudia Diaz Guillen and Adrian Velazquez (both pending extradition to Venezuela from Spain), are co-conspirators, along Gabriel Arturo Jimenez Aray from Banco Peravia in the DR.
A source has told this site the U.S. Department of Justice is to unseal indicments, related to Alejandro Andrade's corruption racket when heading Venezuela's Banco del Tesoro. Up to nine people are said to be part of criminal probe about to be revealed. It goes back to the times of Leonardo Gonzalez Dellan, all the way to Andrade's multibillion dollar schemes with Raul Gorrin.
Global Witness, self styled protector of "human rights and the environment by fearlessly confronting corruption and challenging the systems that enable it", is silent on PDVSA. As in absolutely silent. A search for PDVSA in Global Witness site returns one (1) result. Since 1993, which is when Global Witness claims to have started, nothing has been done regarding PDVSA's corruption, one that can very easily engulf all other corruption campaigns Global Witness has ever done put together.
There's no rest for the wicked Rafael Ramirez. Beyond idiotic presidential aspirations that will never materialise, Ramirez is a hunted man. Add Portugal to U.S., Swiss, Andorra, Spanish and Venezuelan jurisdictions, where he remains a wanted man / person of interest. Many of his closest and most trusted partners-in-crime are in jail in some of those jurisdictions. The impending danger for Ramirez is that his lieutenants have already opened up.
A source has informed this site that Pedro Binaggia, banker to fugitive Francisco Convit in a $1.2 billion money laundering scheme centered at PDVSA, was instrumental -in bringing to Switzerland's bank EFG International- as much as $1.5 billion as part of a previous money laundering exercise, involving PDVSA, Rafael Ramirez, Juan Andres Wallis, Danilo Diazgranados, Nervis Villa
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