Corruption, fraud and bribery: the new scandal of Guaidó and his accomplices
El Nuevo Herald details that “the team appointed by Juan Guaidó to recover the assets embezzled by the ‘Chavismo’ is the protagonist of its own corruption scandal
Juan Guaidó and his close circle return to star in a new corruption and fraud scandal. On this occasion he is linked to a case of bribery that he would have executed in exchange for awarding contracts in the name of Venezuela and whose profits would be “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
A report published by the Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald details that “the team appointed by interim president Juan Guaidó to recover the assets embezzled by the ‘Chavismo’ is the protagonist of its own corruption scandal. (…) He (Guaidó) demanded bribes to award a millionaire contract to a company whose legal representatives, are now accused by the interim government, of being under investigation for fraud in Ecuador and the United States.
“The case, initially revealed in the Factores de Poder program, led Nicolás Maduro’s regime to announce that it had opened its own investigation for the alleged demand for a payment of $ 750,000 in exchange for granting the concession”, the article explains.
Then, the legal representatives of the company said that representatives of the false “interim government” of Guaidó demanded an initial payment of that amount. But, they allege that the total funds they were asked to disburse under the table, represented tens of millions of dollars.
Steal hundreds of millions of dollars
“They wanted 50% of the ‘recovery fee’ that would correspond to us”, said Jorge Reyes, legal representative of the Caribbean Recovery Assets Consortium (CRA). This firm for months negotiated the contract with representatives of the self-styled “interim government” of Juan Guaidó.
Half of the recovery fee, set at 18% of the total recovered, potentially represents tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars. This, when taking into account that the Venezuelan assets to be rescued total several billion dollars, Reyes added, quoted by El Nuevo Herald.
The firm proposed to Guaidó to collect the debts that several countries accumulate with Venezuela through the supply of crude oil offered at a discount and for multi-year credits through Petrocaribe. “According to calculations by the consortium, the recoverable assets of Venezuela in the nations of the region could amount to 20,000 million” dollars.
“The contract to recover those debts was ultimately set aside by representatives of the interim government, after Reyes and his partner in CRA, Pedro Antar, refused to pay the required bribe”, they both told El Nuevo Herald.
The Miami-based newspaper, the favorite site of several fugitives from Venezuelan justice, adds that the accusations against Guaidó’s interim circle, “are flatly denied”.
“I reject and condemn the false statements issued by CRA CONSORTIUM, and I confirm that a service contract was never signed with the aforementioned consortium”, This is said in a statement from the self-described “Presidential Commissioner for Asset Management” of Guaidó, Javier Troconis.
Guaidó’s circle deny the bribes
According to Troconis, Guaidó’s team did not sign contracts with the firm of Reyes and Antar. “After the exhaustive evaluation and verification of the proposal of said company, it was concluded that the legal representatives of the firm, Jorge Reyes and Pedro Antar, had been subject to disciplinary measures for fraud, by the financial supervisory authority FINRA of the United States”.
Troconis added that “there are complaints against one of the company’s representatives before the Government of the Republic of Ecuador”. That, in addition to various events linked to other types of crime”.
However, Reyes and Antar deny having committed any crime. They also say that Guaidó’s team “seemed to have a very different opinion of them during the initial negotiations of the agreement”, In their opinion, this is confirmed in a document signed and sealed by Troconis.
In fact, the businessmen received a letter signed by Troconis in January. There, they informed them that they were selected “to represent Guaidó in a negotiation to collect debts in Petrocaribe countries”. The operation included Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas and Saint Lucia, where entrepreneurs estimated that there were several billion dollars in Venezuelan assets to be “recovered”.
But, the hiring was subject to the approval of a series of precautions, including documents on the identity of the CRA shareholders. They also requested a strategy to recover the assets, an inventory, a confidentiality agreement and a final authorization of the due diligence process.
Reyes and Antar say they delivered all those collections, but none had weight in the final decision. “What really interested the dark forces behind the operation was securing the bribe payments”.
Guaidó’s pressure in Washington
The discussions prospered until Magin Blasi-Blanchard and his brother, Fernando Blasi-Blanchard joined in the talks. The Blasi-Blanchard brothers are Guaidó’s charge d’affaires in Washington. According to the businessmen, the situation was clearly outlined in a conversation they had with Blasi-Blanchard.
“They told us: look, if the money ($ 750,000) isn’t ‘coming’ (the bribe), we won’t give them the contract. We told them: you are crazy, we cannot give a penny. You do not understand that this cannot be done here in the United States”, Reyes told El Nuevo Herald.
“Well, then there will be nothing. We are in control, the decision is final. If you don’t put in the money and give us 50%, there is no way the contract will come out”, he added about Blasi-Blanchard’s response.
The newspaper adds that Blasi-Blanchard could not be reached in time for the news report. However, supporting documents provided by the employers, “show that there were at least some emails between him and the representatives of the consortium”. Also, other texts show chat and email exchanges with Troconis and other members of the commission.
“Among the documents presented are photos of annotations made in a ballpoint pen on a piece of paper that outlined the distribution of the initial payment of $ 750,000 and the distribution of 50 and 50% of the recovery fee”, the article says.
“I have never asked anyone for money”
According to Troconis, he is totally unaware of the version that the CRA company was being asked for money to obtain the concession.
“I completely ignore it. I have never asked anyone for money. Neither to them nor to anyone, and less in exchange for any contract, or anything. I did my job, to verify if the people were the ideal and that the proposal was the correct one”, Guaidó’s ally told El Nuevo Herald.
When asked about the written notes, he noted that he is totally unaware of their origin and that he had not seen it until it appeared on the show. “It is not my handwriting, nor do I know it, I have never seen it before, nor is it my handwriting”, he said.
