The United States sanctioned Venezuelan officials who convicted former Citgo executives

The US government announced sanctions against the two key officials on #Wednesday in the condemnation of the #Nicolás #Maduro regime of the six former #Citgo executives imprisoned in #Venezuela. The sextet had been sentenced last month to between eight and 13 years in prison by a court controlled by the #Venezuelan dictatorship, and charged with murky corruption charges.

“The #United #States designates the #Venezuelan judge and prosecutor who presided over and prosecuted the #November 2020 trial and sentencing of the six #American individuals known as the #Citgo 6. These #Americans have been unjustly imprisoned in #Venezuela since #November 2017 after being lured to #Caracas under false pretenses, “said #Secretary of #State #Mike #Pompeo in a statement released hours ago.

“Lorena #Carolina #Cornielles #Ruiz (#Cornielles) presided over the #Citgo 6 trial while #Ramón #Antonio #Torres #Espinoza (#Torres) was the prosecutor who represented the illegitimate #Maduro regime. #As such, These two officers played critical roles in the kangaroo trials of each of the #Citgo executives. These procedures were clouded by the lack of guarantees of a fair trial and were based on politically motivated accusations, and they were denied access to the media and human rights groups, “added #Pompeo.

The #Treasury #Department resolved to freeze all the assets of #Cornielles #Ruiz and #Torres #Espinoza in the #United #States, in addition to criminalizing transactions with any of them. “The unjust arrest and conviction of these six #Americans demonstrates how corruption and abuse of power are deeply ingrained in #Venezuela’s institutions,” said #Secretary of the #Treasury #Steven #Mnuchin.

“These six men and their families have suffered enough. #It is time for #Maduro to free the 6 from #Citgo and allow them to reunite with their families, ”#Pompeo said.

The worst part of the punishment imposed by the #Venezuelan dictatorship was taken #José Ángel #Pereira #Ruimwyk, the former president of the largest subsidiary of the state oil company PDVSA in the #United #States, who was sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison. The other five #Citgo executives were sentenced by the regime to eight years and 10 months in prison.

The crimes charged to #Ruimwyk are “#Malicious embezzlement of one’s own and an official’s agreement with a contractor”, as well as the “crime of association to commit a crime,” reported the #Supreme #Court of #Justice (TSJ) of the #Venezuelan dictatorship. #Ruimwyk must also pay a fine of two million dollars, which is the equivalent “to 40% of the value of the goods subject to the crime.”

#Former directors #Tomeu #Vadell #Recalde, #Jorge #Luis #Toledo #Kohury, #Gustavo #Adolfo Cárdenas #Cardona, #José #Luis #Zambrano #Colina and #Alirio #José #Zambrano #Colina were convicted of “#Civil servant concert with contractor and association to commit a crime.” The court in the hands of the #Chavista regime also ruled that all those convicted are disqualified “for the exercise of public function” and therefore “they will not be able to run for popularly elected positions.”

#On #November 21, 2017, the attorney general of the #Venezuelan dictatorship, #Tarek #Saab, reported on the arrest of these citizens after they sign contracts that “compromised the national patrimony and the future” of the PDVSA subsidiary “#Without counting on the approval of the #National #Executive.”

“Citgo’s senior management (…) on #July 15, 2017 signed an international agreement with the companies #Frontier #Group #Management and #Apolo #Global #Management, based on an alleged refinancing of the debt programs of 2014 and 2015 ”#Saab said at the time. #This, according to the account constructed by the #Chavista prosecutor, to apply for loans “under leonine, unfavorable conditions” for the #Venezuelan oil industry and “offering as collateral” the subsidiary itself.

#Seguri reading:

The #Nicolás #Maduro regime sentenced six former executives of the oil subsidiary #Citgo to prison

#Citgo executives convicted in #Venezuela will appeal

The #United #States extended until #July 2021 the ban on trading a bond of the #Venezuelan oil company PDVSA