ANOTHER EX-DIRECTOR OF PDVSA DECLARES GUILTY FOR MONEY LAUNDERING - venezuela

Abraham Edgardo Ortega, 51, of Venezuelan nationality, former executive director of Finance for state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, pleaded guilty in a Florida court to involvement in an international criminal plot to launder "misappropriated funds" to this company, informed the Department of Justice of the United States, EE. UU The sentencing hearing against Ortega, former executive director of financial planning for PDVSA, will take place on January 9.

As part of his guilty plea, the Venezuelan high official "admitted" that in his executive position "he accepted five million USD in bribes to grant priority loans to a French company and a Russian bank, both minority shareholders in joint ventures (joint ventures ") with PDVSA"

Abraham Edgardo Ortega received the payment from this "bribe network" with the proceeds of a "currency exchange operation" through which 1,200 million USD were embezzled from PDVSA.
He also admitted that he "accepted $ 12 million in bribes for his participation in an embezzlement plan of PDVSA that involved a loan and a currency exchange contract."

The former PDVSA official acknowledged that he worked with another defendant to launder $ 12 million that he received as a bribe and that he and his buddy washed another 12 million USD through a "sophisticated false investment plot plan."

A false investment plan that received money from a "payment made to look like an investment in a fund; but, in fact, the payment was "money laundering," the authorities said in a statement. This accusation of money laundering embezzled PDVSA also involves other Venezuelans.