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Since the topic of the Venezuelan election, and the ongoing economic and humanitarian crisis is high on the news agenda this week, I thought it would be interesting to ‘Deep Dive’ into the Wikileaks files, to try and find some instances of documented corruption (whether it be government or corporate) and push it into the light here on the blockchain.

What better place to start, than the energy industry which makes up the vast majority of the Venezuelan GDP and is a central figure in all news and geo-political discussion, when it comes to any corporate and state media sources on the Venezuelan issue and their current predicament.

         
Note: Please take all precautions before you access the Wikileaks website, and follow any links from there at your own risk.
         

After discovering Steven Bodzin's wordpress blog who writes on Latin American issues that deal with natural resource information and news, I took his lead and did a search on ProEnergy Services on Wikileaks, which produced only '4 hits'on what I believe to be an under reported scandalin western media. The fraud and corruption was exposed by whistleblower Dan Rosenau (former ProEnergy employee), whose leaks produced 14,000 corruption files involving direct association and collusion between the above mentioned ProEnergy Services, Pratt & Whitney Power Systems, Venezuela’s Derwick Associates Energy company, J.P. Morgan, Davos International Bank and the State of Venezuela. These files are linked to Wikileaks via cryptome.org, which is a known website and source that specialises in corruption files and leaks.
         

Some Key Information from this Scandal Includes:

         

In a postfrom Steven Bodzin's wordpress blog:

What appears to be a leak of internal documents from Missouri electricity industry contractor ProEnergy Services and Venezuelan contractor Derwick Associates adds to questions about how ProEnergy got deals to sell products made by General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce to Venezuelan state industries starting in late 2009.
The documents, posted to the website Scribd Nov. 17 by a person using the name “Tomás Lander,” (Dan Rosenau) include a proposal dated June 2009 from ProEnergy to Venezuela offering power plants. At the time, Venezuela was suffering periodic blackouts because demand for electricity was growing, a drought was draining hydroelectric reservoirs and the 2008 commodities bust had left the country with limited cash to deal with the crisis.

From another post on his blog:

A document leaked to the web in November raises questions about whether multinational companies did all they could — and all they were legally required to do — to avoid participating in potential corruption in Venezuela’s electricity industry.
The document in question is a chain of e-mails between Pratt & Whitney Power Systems and ProEnergy Services. It, along with the others in that same collection of ostensible leaks, appears to show that some of the turbines eventually sold to Venezuela came from Pratt & Whitney Power Systems. At the time, that company was a unit of publicly traded United Technology Corp. (UTX), but has since been sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and renamed PW Power Systems.
I found this interesting. Ever since 2011, when we first heard tales of Venezuelan state companies buying turbines at inflated prices, I always wondered how big companies like Pratt & Whitney, General Electric Corp. (GE), and Rolls Royce Holdings Plc (RR.L) could have gotten mixed up in this, since US law gives them a responsibility to run due-diligence checks on their local partners.

source

This raises the question of why the Venezuelan State along with ProEnergy services and its subsidiaries, colluded to give contracts to Derwick Associates, who at the time was acknowledged to have no real expertise in the energy industry. It was in turn made the ‘middle-man’ and payed over-inflated prices by at least 30% which benefited parties from both sides at the expense of the Venezuelan citizen. Of course this was hidden from public view and scrutiny via confidentiality clauses within contracts, thus obscuring the true nature of these agreements and any financial transactions between all parties involved.
         

Leaked Documents and Resources:

         

From a leaked document published in 2013, on cryptome.org:

The company that produced the video (Derwick Associates) basically stole nearly $3 billion from Venezuela through overpricing in power plants. It's a company that did not have any track record, anywhere in the world, when contracts were awarded by the Venezuelan State through payment of bribes and nepotism.
Journalists and critics have been trying to get copies of 12 contracts granted to Derwick (in a 14-month period), but this has been met with all manner of intimidation and repression from Venezuela's Intelligence Police and the highest officials from the Hugo Chavez regime (some of whom have received kickbacks from Derwick).
International partners of Derwick include American companies, such as ProEnergy Services, its subsidiary Energy Parts Solutions, while legal and PR services have been contracted from ACU Chairman Al Cardenas (from Tew Cardenas LLP), Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP, and FTI Consulting respectively.
Some of the money stolen has been laundered by JP Morgan.

         
         
Here is a promotional videofor Derrick Associates.
         

There is a long trail of corruption that now also links Derrick Associates with PDVSA, including bribes and money laundering schemes created by offshore subsidiaries which includes politicians and banking cartels.

In another damning leaked email exchangeposted to Cryptome.org, Dan Rosenau also implicates collusion between Derrick Associates, Corporate American Energy Executives, former Obama Administration appointee Bernard Aronson and Russian and Chinese criminal syndicates...All of whom were favoured by Banco Privada d'Andorra(an Andoran banking group), who helped siphon off more than $4 billion US dollars via PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela, Guyanese state enterprise CVG and SIDOR iron-ore producer.

Derrick Associates and ProEnergy Services were also involved in embezzlement of funds, exorbitant mark-ups, deliberate overbilling and selling of inferior and recycled parts.
         

An exert from the email exchange in 2015 posted to cryptome.org:

Months went by and I could not shake the disgust of what transpired. I blew the whistle by sharing the information with celebrated Venezuelan investigative reporter Cesar Batiz who verified the material and allowed a blogger to post some of it on Scribd.
The sensational revelations about money-laundering activities of Venezuelan energy officials at the Andorran bank would explain why Venezuelan state officials agreed to overpay Derwick and ProEnergy. The men addressed in the letters (written by ProEnergy and) and sent by Derwick are accountholders exposed to criminal charges in Spain for amassing illegal fortunes in "consulting fees."
It is disheartening that American energy executives would display such appalling greed and be so quick to partake in the looting of Venezuela. My hope is that by going public with the 10GB of information more of my former colleagues will come forward and blow the whistle on one of the most troubling international scandals in Venezuelan (and Missouri) history. I've learned that Derwick Associates has persecuted numerous bloggers in Venezuela and abroad as well as mainstream journalists including having stories about their misdeeds "spiked" at the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Economist, Huffington Post, and the Miami Herald.
         

While researching and sifting through this information, It clearly showed me that the people of Venezuela are in a horrible situation of exploitation. They have no chance of deciding their own futures, because they don’t get to decide on it themselves. It is decided for them by the powers that control every aspect of their society and lives. It’s not isolated to just Venezuela, that’s for sure.
         

Does this 'Deep Dives' search show us that we are ruled by a revolving door global corporatocracy? Do changes of government and voting out one side even make a difference, when there is such collusion form all sides to enrich themselves, at the expense of taxpayers and citizens? You can decide and make your opinions known in the comments section!
         
         
         
As always, have a great day and PEACE
         
         

         
         
         
Wikileaks source.
Other sources used 123456