Do You Need to Clear Your Reputation? There Are Deputies Available for Hire
For some months now, parliament members of different opposition political parties have been offering to make informal proceedings on request before agencies like the Colombian Attorney General's Office and the United States Department of the Treasury. They issue letters of good conduct to those responsible for negotiations on the imports for CLAP combos, so that such agencies absolve or stop investigating entrepreneurs like Carlos Lizcano, a subordinate of the already sanctioned Alex Saab and Alvaro Pulido. The fact that the most active defense of the main social program and focus of corruption of the government of Nicolas Maduro comes from the heart of the National Assembly 'in contempt' is just one of the ironies of this story.
It
was a badly-kept secret that the long arm of Colombian entrepreneur Alex Nain
Saab Moran ?one
of the main contractors of the Government of Nicolas Maduro, sanctioned in July
by the Trump Administration along with his partner Alvaro Pulido for their
participation in the scheme of imports for the state program of the Local Supply
and Production Committee (CLAP), prosecuted in Florida for Money Laundering and
investigated in other jurisdictions for the opacity of their
businesses?
had entered the National Assembly (NA), controlled by the Venezuelan opposition
and declared in contempt by the Chavismo, to reach some deputies and
control their actions.
The
alarms went off when Jose Guerra, a member of the Justice First (PJ – Primero
Justicia) party, warned on a November 6 tweet, without further details, that
what he called the Green Briefcase Operation to buy some of his colleagues was
in motion. The announce gained strength a few days later when other documents
allegedly signed in 2018 by deputies of the Comptroller’s Commission circulated
on Twitter to blame Saab. Some described them as apocryphal, and the Attorney
General in exile, Luisa Ortega Diaz, one of the alleged recipients, denied
having received them.
That
was the case until now.
Documents
and communications, which Armando.info had access to, reveal that since early
2018, a plot has been hatching to grant indulgences to those responsible for the negotiations on the supply of
imports for CLAP combos. The scheme includes several opposition
deputies, some of them are members of the Comptroller’s Commission of the
national parliament, which is in practice the only anti-corruption agency in
Venezuela with autonomy from the ruling Chavism.
Based
on the documents available, two names are key to understanding this
story.
On
the parliament members’ corner, Luis Eduardo Parra Rivero, a PJ deputy of the
State of Yaracuy, member of the Environment Commission.
His
counterpart on the other corner, Carlos Rolando Lizcano Manrique. Lizcano is
also a Colombian entrepreneur, like the duo of Saab and Pulido, and acts under
their orders. He appears in the papers as owner
of Salva Foods 2015, the company managing CLAP Stores,
which emerged
after some sort of undercover privatization of the extinct state network known
as Abastos Bicentenario that took place between 2016 and 2017 with the blessing
of Nicolas Maduro.
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Constant
negotiations between Luis Parra and Carlos Lizcano led to the makeup of an
informal group of deputies from different opposition parties in favor of
the
Colombian
entrepreneurs and their vast business network with Chavismo, ever expanding
since
2013.
They Invoke Guaido to Gain Indulgences
One
of the most recent actions of the informal group of deputies coordinated by
Parra occurred on October 9. That day, deputies Adolfo Superlano ?who
was still a member of the Together for Change (Cambiemos) party, expelled weeks
later, on November 11, from the novel organization led by Timoteo
Zambrano?
and José Brito, of the Justice First party, went to the seat of the General
Prosecutor's Office of Colombia, in Bogota, to deliver a letter exempting Carlos
Lizcano and Salva Foods from any irregularity or relationship whatsoever with
Alex Saab. Last year, the Colombian Prosecutor's Office formally accused Saab
for tax evasion and keeps the clan's business with Maduro’s government under
scrutiny.
“This
is to make official that after verifying the files of the entries in the book of
complaints, it is concluded that to the date of the inquiry, there is no action
filed against the aforementioned Carlos Rolando Lizcano Manrique or his business
Salva Foods 2015, C.A.,” as read on the letter of September 20, 2019. Along with
the signatures of Adolfo Superlano and Jose Brito, there are those of their
fellow deputies Conrado Perez Linares of the Justice First party; Richard
Arteaga and Guillermo Luces of the Popular Will (Voluntad Popular - VP) party;
and Chaim Bucaram, Hector Vargas and William Barrientos of the A New Era (Un
Nuevo Tiempo - UNT) party. By the way, the last name of the latter is misspelled
on the letter.
Lizcano
appears in the complex organization chart created by Saab and Pulido as the
owner of CLAP Stores in Venezuela through Salva Foods and as a director of
Mezedes Holding Ltd, registered in the United Arab Emirates, also involved in
the business scheme behind the CLAPs.
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The
so-called certificate of good conduct of the Venezuelan-nationalized Colombian
entrepreneur, born in Cucuta, Norte de Santander Department, 48 years ago, was
approved in “regular session” of the Comptroller’s Commission, on September 18,
2019, in response to Lizcano’s request in a communication of July 25 of the same
year, as per the text. However, there are no records of that session in the
commission. The last two sessions were held on August 14, just before the
parliamentary recess, and last week, on November 20.
In
the letter submitted to the document control office of the Colombian
Prosecutor's Office, identified with number 20196110908052, the signatories
speak on behalf of the entire legislative body and even its president Juan
Guaido, appointed as acting President of Venezuela by the National Assembly, on
January 23, 2018. “The acting President (of Venezuela) and President of the
National Assembly, Juan Guaido, and us, overcome many obstacles from this
highest control agency of the Executive and we are aware of and guarantee the
fundamental changes and restoration of ethics in the official function that we
must put at the service of the Venezuelan society,” they
boasted.
Mileage Earning
This
affair in Colombia is not the only recent process of deputies abroad to clear
the record of Carlos Lizcano.
In
late September, a similar communication was sent at Lizcano’s request to the
Department of the Treasury in Washington. At the closing of this report, it was
not possible to confirm receipt of the document at the offices of that US
equivalent to a ministry of finance. The purpose of persuading this entity about
Lizcano's innocence seems logical. The Department of the Treasury had imposed
financial sanctions on Alex Saab and Alvaro Pulido last July, hence, Lizcano
would try to protect himself from future measures against him. The documents
reviewed by Armando.info only allow to affirm that the document was mailed - not
delivered to the agency in person - on September 26, 2018, from a post office in
the US capital city.
In
addition, according to those files, some of the coordination meetings between
entrepreneur Lizcano and deputy Luis Parra were held in a house in El Valle
Parish, southwest of Caracas, in apartments in the east of the Venezuelan
capital and in several stores of the CLAP Stores chain. The entrepreneur did not
respond to the interview request for this report.
On
the other hand, deputy Luis Parra denied knowing the Colombian entrepreneur or
having participated in conversations for the Comptroller’s Commission to support
Lizcano. "I invite you or whoever else to submit any proof that Luis Parra is
related to these cases," he said when interviewed for this report. In fact, he
only affirmed about Carlos Lizcano, “I have been told that he is the alleged
front man of the man you named (Editor’s note: Alex Saab) and that the other
thief out there named (Editor’s note: Rafael Ramirez).”
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Gold Line
The
documents obtained for this report include invoices of company Agroleon Molinos
de San Felipe (capital of the state of Yaracuy) to Salva Foods, Carlos Lizcano’s
company. The owner of Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe is Roger Leon, a well-known
entrepreneur of that state and friend of Deputy Parra, who represents Yaracuy in
the parliament. Both have been seen in political activities in that
central-western region of Venezuelan.
One
of the invoices, issued on March 12, 2019, shows Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe,
mainly engaged in the sale of all types of grains, dispatching a 30-ton shipment
of “carcass meat, placed on site” to Salva Foods for a total of 120 million
bolivars. Months earlier, on December 17, 2018, Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe
had issued another proforma invoice to Salva Foods Fze - registered in the
United Arab Emirates and also part of the CLAP business plot - for almost
500,000 euros. The concept of the invoice is for the purchase of a “central
1,340 square-meter land” and the payment was made to an account in Banesco
Panama. Neither the company nor its owner responded to the request for an
interview about those transactions.
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The
contact between Luis Parra and Carlos Lizcano could be even more confusing if
considering that almost simultaneously to these efforts, Emilio Fajardo, another
deputy of the Justice First party and member of the Environment Commission, like
Parra, announced last June in a press release that he would open an
investigation into Lizcano for the "illegal exploitation and commercialization
of gold" of the so-called Mining Arc. "We must take action against those who
illegally exploit and commercialize our natural resources disregarding the
environmental devastation of our country."
Fajardo
did not respond to the interview request for this report.
Regarding
the announcement of his commission colleague and party partner, Luis Parra said
that “it was a press release that said that Carlos Lizcano has mines and a gold
mafia, and we are open to the rendering of evidence.” However, when asked about
the progress of this possible investigation, he said, "you cannot investigate
what does not exist."
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Since
last year, Alex
Saab and
his network also appear linked to the commercialization and extraction of
Venezuelan gold.
The
incursion into this business would have a double purpose, to offer Nicolas
Maduro a way to bypass the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on
the Caracas regime, but also ensure a hard-to-track form of payment for imports
made for CLAPs. Sources who recently learned about the structure of the
Colombian entrepreneurs say that Carlos Lizcano usually travels to the mining
area in southern Venezuela.
The Source of a ‘Modus Operandi’
The
proforma invoice for almost 500,000 euros of Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe to
Salva Foods Fze gives an additional hint about the plot hatched between Alex
Saab's group and the opposition deputies. The invoice was sent by email from the
company to deputy Luis Parra and to Carlos Herrera, former councilmember of the
Caracas Metropolitan District, director of the Primicias24.com website and
promoter of the self-styled Bloque de Prensa Digital Venezolano (Venezuelan
Digital Press Block). The issue does not seem casual.
Luis
Parra and Carlos Herrera are friends and they traveled to Europe in April this
year along with deputies Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga. On April 17, the
four had to return from Madrid to Caracas on an Air Europa flight, with a stop
in the Dominican Republic. The tickets were purchased at a travel agency in
Bogota. "It is as if I ask you where you get the money to support yourself,
travel and do the things you do; who pays you to conduct investigations. I think
you are crossing a few lines," Parra replied when asked about that trip. Neither
the editor of Primicias24 nor deputies Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga
responded to the interview request.
In
April, Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga also traveled to Paris, France, with
Air France tickets purchased at the same travel agency in Bogota. There was no
public information by the parliament members of these tours. Sources close to
the deputies also said that in those days they traveled to Bulgaria, Portugal
and even the Alpine enclave of Liechtenstein, possibly to deliver official
notices announcing the close of the investigation against the scheme of Alex
Saab. Precisely in some of these jurisdictions, there are inquiries against the
financial movements of the Colombian entrepreneurs and their companies. The
Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik.Bg reported in June ?after
a minute sent from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry’s Office to a deputy of the
socialist party of that country?
the visit made by the parliament members on April 12, although without further
details of the requests of Venezuelan officials to Bulgarian authorities.
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Days
after the initial trip to Spain, the three deputies - Parra, Perez and Arteaga -
appeared again in Europe. They were accompanied by colleagues Jose Brito, Chaim
Bucaram and Adolfo Superlano, all signatories of the letter delivered at the
Prosecutor's Office of Colombia, on October 9, 2019, on behalf of Carlos Lizcano
and Salva Foods.
The
deputies were on May 10 in Rome and on May 14 in Madrid to ask authorities of
both countries to investigate Rafael Ramirez, the former Oil Minister and former
president of the state oil company PDVSA during the Government of Hugo Chavez,
as well as former Vice President of Economic Affairs with Nicolas Maduro, among
other positions. Indeed, there are photos of this Spain-Italy tour, statements
to the media of those countries, and even explanations when they returned to
Venezuela. "He lives like a prince in a castle that costs from six to seven
million euros (...) I summon prosecutor Tarek William Saab to make the request
to Interpol," deputy Chaim Bucaram said on May 22 about the accusation against
Rafael Ramirez, after resuming his work at the Comptroller’s
Commission.
Deputy
Jose Luis Pirela, representative of the state of Zulia and current member of the
so-called parliamentary fraction of July 16, dissident of the majority
opposition led by Maria Corina Machado and Antonio Ledezma, was in Madrid and
Rome too. However, Pirela quickly clarified that his participation was to
accompany them to file the complaint against Ramirez and another complaint for
the Derwick case, associated with corruption in electricity investments in
Venezuela. “I do not accept my name or honor being associated to a matter I have
nothing to do with. I have not done anything else with the members of that
Comptroller’s Commission,” he also said.
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Precisely
that trip of members of the Comptroller’s Commission caught the attention of the
heads of the political parties, particularly of the president of that office,
Freddy Superlano, deputy for the state of Barinas of the Popular Will (VP)
party. “It was not about a tour of actions by the commission. Trips involving
official actions are first approved in plenary session or authorized by the
president; otherwise, it is an individual and non-institutional action,” says
Superlano, who should not be mistaken for deputy Adolfo Superlano, whom he
claims not to be related to.
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On
May 22, the day of the statements of Deputy Bucaram against Rafael Ramirez,
Freddy Superlano was already out of the country in a self-imposed exile since
last April. Hence, Conrado Perez, vice president of the commission at that
moment, told the media that he assumed the “voice of the fellow members of the
Comptroller’s Commission”. Since then, Conrado Perez has served, in practice, as
de facto president of that office of the parliament.
It
is worth mentioning that Conrado Perez and Deputy Rafael Arteaga signed the
letters of uncertain authenticity, dated in 2018 and leaked to the press and
through social media last week, whereby parliament members absolve not Lizcano
but Alex Saab of any irregularity. One of those papers also contains the
signature of the president of the Comptroller’s Commission, Freddy Superlano.
Both on his Twitter account and when asked for this report, Superlano
"emphatically" denied having signed that document.
The
informal tour in Europe of the group of deputies aroused all kinds of
speculation in the floor, which include claims that Alex Saab's checkbook had
financed the trip. The gossip was not only among deputies. In a digital meeting
held in September this year with foreign correspondents, Rafael Ramirez, fallen
out of favor and remotely speaking from an undetermined place, affirmed the
same. “They were in Europe, very funny, well, very tragic, accusing me with some
horrible banners against me, but later on, people from the opposition told me
that this trip was paid by Alex Saab, the lord of the CLAP boxes, whom the
Comptroller’s Commission does not investigate.”
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Weeks
later and for months, Primicias24.com, the portal of Carlos Herrera, began to
publish articles in defense of Salva Foods, the company of Carlos Lizcano and
owner of the CLAP Stores. The publications even compared the supposed robustness
of Salva Foods with Empresas Polar, the main private corporation of Venezuela,
in categories of foodstuffs and beverages. “Salva Foods is a company that was
created in 2015 to market food on a large scale. It is not a shell company. It
has about 6,500 employees and is among the largest companies in the country
since it also has a large logistics management,” said one of the press
releases.
The
dates of these publications coincide with the date of the letters of the
Comptroller's Committee leaked to the social media with the alleged signatures
of Freddy Superlano, Conrado Perez, Richard Arteaga and even the secretary of
such commission. Only deputy Superlano insists that he did not sign those
communications on behalf of Alex Saab, Carlos Lizcano or the companies of the
group. The prosecutor in exile, Luisa Ortega Diaz, also denies having received
any communication from the Comptroller's Committee for that
purpose.
None
of the letters are in file number 1714 created in 2017 by the Comptroller’s
Commission, when Justice First deputy Carlos Paparoni formally opened the case.
According to this evidence, these would be apocryphal documents, forged as part
of a disinformation strategy. “They never reached the commission's registry,
even though they speak on behalf of the commission,” says a source who preferred
anonymity.
In
those letters, dated in 2018, it is said that the investigation on Alex Saab and
his participation in the CLAP business started due to a complaint by Ramses
Reyes, omitting that the investigation officially began a year
before.
Ramses
Reyes is a familiar character in the Primicias24 portal. The site frequently
collects complaints of alleged acts of corruption by that individual, who is
usually identified as “a lawyer and public accountant” and member of the
Venezuelan Revolutionary Currents (Corrientes Revolucionarias Venezolanas)
party.
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Salva
Foods' lawyer, Pedro Aranguren, said via Twitter that he will "summon" the
National Assembly "with documents in hand" to "acknowledge the resolutions of
the Comptroller's Commission on behalf of entrepreneur Alex Saab, which prove
that he did not forge anything and that the documents were personally signed by
members of that commission.” Ultimately, his words are the acknowledgement that
Alex Saab is the shadow owner of the CLAP Stores, something that the Colombian
entrepreneur has always wanted to deny regarding the Armando.info reports that
revealed these connections through Carlos Lizcano. Pedro Aranguren is also a
familiar character in Primicias24 and is identified as "a criminalist, former
judge and expert in criminal matters."
Between
the leaks and the unsteadiness of the revelations that follow one after another,
and at the close of this story, Freddy Superlano, still long-distance president
of the Comptroller's Commission, disclosed a letter in which he asks the interim
president, Juan Guaido, to open an investigation with “deputies, journalists and
civil society” in the “plenary session of the National Assembly” to discover how
is it possible that a strategy was prepared in that office to defend those who
are identified in some countries as front men of Nicolas Maduro and potential
authors of the Green Briefcase Operation, as deputy Jose Guerra named it.