The details of that transaction are in contract \r\nCPVX-CJ-CONT-0086-2017 entered into by and between the state-owned Corporacion \r\nVenezolana de Comercio Exterior (Corpovex) (Venezuelan Foreign Trade \r\nCorporation), responsible for centralizing public imports, and the Hong Kong \r\ncompany. The document shows North International Bank and the Dutch Rabobank as \r\nchannels of the transaction that would end in the coffers of Group Grand \r\nLimited, 50% of which was paid in advance.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The contract also shows that the Colombian duo, widely favored by Nicolas \r\nMaduro with millionaire businesses since 2013<\/A>, charged $37 for each Clap \r\nbox, $3 more than for each combo from a previous contract. A year later, in \r\nOctober 2018, the Attorney General\u2019s Office of Mexico reported irregularities, \r\nlike overbilling or poor quality of the shipments of Group Grand Limited for the \r\nVenezuelan government.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n <\/p>\n\n At the time of the agreement, signed by Air Force Major \r\nGeneral Giuseppe Yoffreda, representing Corpovex, neither Saab nor Pulido had \r\nbeen included on the Ofac\u2019 list of those sanctioned by the U.S. Department of \r\nthe Treasury, nor had they been accused of money laundering in a South Florida \r\ncourt, events that occurred in mid-2019. Nor had the Italian Guardia Di Finanza \r\nfrozen their assets, as it did in last year\u2019s November.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n However, Armando.info had revealed by then that Colombian businessmen were camouflaging \r\nbehind Group Grand Limited<\/A>. A few years earlier, the Ecuadorian Attorney \r\nGeneral\u2019s Office accused them of several crimes allegedly committed with company \r\nFondo Global de Construccion. In 2011, the businessmen duo had signed through \r\nthis same company a multi-million dollar contract with the government of Hugo \r\nChavez to build prefabricated homes in popular areas, which marked the beginning \r\nof the golden era of their business with the self-styled Bolivarian Revolution<\/I> and the process \r\ntook Alex Saab to the Miraflores palace in one of his few public \r\nappearances.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n Group Grand Limited\u2019s is not the only financial transaction \r\nlinked to the Claps that has passed through jurisdictions known for their \r\nfinancial opacity. Saab and Pulido have personally used companies from the United \r\nArab Emirates<\/A>, while other intermediaries have received millionaire payments in banks \r\nin Hong Kong and Switzerland<\/A>.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\r\n\n It is possible that the Caracas government\u2019s preference for \r\nNorth International Bank is because its partners are Venezuelan investors. Or \r\nperhaps, Saab and Pulido\u2019s experience in the Antigua and Barbuda jurisdiction - \r\nwhich the Colombian tandem is very familiar with - has been more of a factor. \r\nAlex Saab even had a passport as the island\u2019s \u201ceconomic representative,\u201d issued \r\nin 2014, when Prime Minister Gaston Browne had only been in office for a few \r\nmonths. Browne had to give public explanations for the issuance of that \r\ndocument, precisely when the investigations against Saab and Pulido were heating \r\nup. \u201cAll I can say to the people of Antigua and Barbuda is that if Mr. Saab is \r\naccused at any time of any wrongdoing, you can rest assured that we will revoke \r\nhis appointment,\u201d he said to a local radio station in October \r\n2018.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n Browne is a close ally of Maduro, but is not clear if this \r\nrelationship preceded or went along with the conversion of Antigua and Barbuda \r\ninto a Chavista<\/I> financial hub. The \r\nrelationship began within the framework of the Petrocaribe program, whereby Hugo \r\nChavez managed to seduce many of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, which \r\nhold a significant number of votes at the OAS and other international forums. \r\nNonetheless, Browne and Antigua and Barbuda stood out to the point that in 2019, \r\nthey became full members of Alba (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our \r\nAmerica), the alliance of Bolivarian regimes also created by Chavez but \r\ncurrently in decline.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n <\/p>\n\n There is other evidence of the role of North International \r\nBank in the financial tricks of Maduro\u2019s administration. On December 24, 2017, \r\nthe state-owned Banco del Tesoro wished a \u201cMerry Christmas\" to those it called \r\n\u201cour correspondent banks.\u201d The entity of Antigua and Barbuda was among the banks \r\ngreeted, together with the Russian Gazprobank, Italbank International Inc and \r\nthe Commonwealth Bank & Trust, domiciled in Dominica, another island in the \r\nCaribbean.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n Deputy Carlos Paparoni, who has been investigating the \r\nbusiness behind the imports for the Claps since 2017 and last year was appointed \r\nby the interim government of Juan Guaido as \u201cpresidential commissioner against \r\nterrorism and organized crime,\u201d has also identified North International Bank as \r\n\u201can intermediary bank\u201d in irregular or illegal financial operations of the \r\nMaduro regime, where Bandes (Economic and Social Development Bank of Venezuela) \r\nhas participated. Until 2016, when Sudeban was approved and after eight years \r\nfrom its creation, the trail of North International Bank in Venezuela was rather \r\ndiscreet.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n <\/p>\n\n The first North International Bank representative in Caracas, \r\nendorsed by Sudeban, was Fidel Antonio Gomez Barrios, who is not known for his \r\nexperience in financial institutions, saved for his presence in a company \r\nregistered in Panama in 2008, called Optivalores Servicios Financieros S.A. \r\nFidel Gomez will not be the only Venezuelan behind North International Bank. \r\nActually, his partners and most of his employees are also \r\nVenezuelan.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n The current partners of the bank are Jordan Alberto Silva \r\nTugues and Carlos Eduardo Sandoval Arocha, both owners of NIB Asesores de \r\nNegocios in Caracas. With that company they filed in 2013 with the Autonomous \r\nService of Intellectual Property (Sapi) the rights of the brand of North \r\nInternational Bank in Venezuela, which were granted to them the following year. \r\nBoth the bank and the Caracas-based NIB Asesores de Negocios were founded in \r\n2008 and have offices in Torre La Castellana, east of Caracas. Fidel Gomez, \r\nJordan Silva and Carlos Sandoval also worked in Caracas for the firm \r\nEconoconsult Consultores Asociados.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n Carlos Vicente Croes Hernandez was also a partner of North \r\nInternational Bank between 2015 and 2016. \u201cI have never been a director of the \r\nbank, only a shareholder,\u201d Croes affirmed. In his Linkedin profile, he stresses \r\nthat he has \u201cno administrative, managerial or directive responsibility\u201d when \r\nreferring to his time at the bank.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n <\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/05042020-01.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div>Correspondent Bank \u2e3a Allied Government<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/05042020-04.jpg\")
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<\/div><\/div>With a Venezuelan Accent<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/05042020-11.jpg\")
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