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Rafael Ramírez: Maduro drags Venezuela into an abyss (2019) 0:28
(CNN Spanish) - A consulting firm owned by a former US lawmaker received US $ 15 million in 2017 for "services he never provided" in favor of the government of questioned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the United States, according to a lawsuit filed this week
in a federal court of New York by PDV USA, a US-based company and that it is part of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
The lawsuit, filed on May 13 in the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York, establishes that the company Interamerican Consulting Inc., owned by former Republican legislator David Rivera, should develop strategies to improve the reputation and positioning of PDVSA in the country North American.
The agreement established that Interamerican would charge US $ 50 million for its services between March 21 and June 21, 2017, which would be canceled in six payments by PDV USA, by PDVSA management, according to the lawsuit.
The document also indicates that Interamerican should deliver periodic updates on the services it had performed, submit reports every two weeks and a final report.
"The reports totaled no more than five pages (collectively), many of which were duplicates, and could not describe any significant work," according to the lawsuit.
"PDV USA paid Interamerican for services that it never provided," he adds.
In 2019, Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela and recognized as interim president of Venezuela by more than 50 countries, appointed his own board of directors of PDV USA. According to the Guaidó press team, the lawsuit arises after the audit carried out with Citgo, the PDVSA subsidiary in the United States, after having been recovered by the opposition.
Guaidó is not mentioned as one of the plaintiffs in the document presented in court.
According to the plaintiff, the company collected $ 15 million and then presented invoices that Rivera sent "repeatedly" to obtain the remaining $ 35 million.
The agreement established that the company should compensate PDV USA if it broke it, something it did when it did not fulfill its promise, indicates the lawsuit, which seeks compensation of US $ 15 million, plus interest, from Rivera's company. .
PDVSA has not publicly ruled on the lawsuit.
CNN contacted Rivera, who is not directly named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and said that his company's consulting work was part of an "operation" to undermine the Maduro regime, which had been orchestrated with the support of the Called "Citgo 6" and the Venezuelan opposition, including Leopoldo López, who has been a refugee at the Spanish embassy in Caracas for more than a year.
"One hundred percent of the resources were used to the leadership of the Venezuelan opposition," Rivera told CNN. “There was never any PDVSA address. Only direction from Maduro's opponents within Citgo and within the opposition. ”
Jesús Loreto, defense attorney for Tomás Vadell, one of the six Citgo executives who remain detained in Venezuela, spoke to CNN and described Rivera's statements as false and malicious. He denies that his client has any connection with Leopoldo López or any other member of the Venezuelan opposition.
López's press team sent a statement to CNN in which he says that "it is absurd to want to associate Leopoldo López with a contract signed with representatives of the Maduro regime."
López spent more than five years in prison after being accused of various crimes after leading a protest against the Maduro regime in 2014, which ended in violent acts.
For its part, the Guaidó press team said in a statement that "following our demand, the former congressman has decided to respond with false, bizarre and implausible accusations."
Collaborating for this report: Marlon Sorto, Gerardo Lemos, Daniel Silva, Osmary Hernández and Ana María Mejía.
PDVSA
