English
Español
Colleagues from Gotham City have started 2021 in, customary, brilliant style. Their unmissable newsletter into all the dodgy characters that pullulate Switzerland's banking sector comes this week with news about a rather prominent criminal, Alex Saab, and one of the most brazen money laundering establishments in town: Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH). In short, Saab's became THE importer to provide Nicolas Maduro's regime with foodstuff distributed through the CLAP (gov. subsidised basic food) program. Purchases were often made through CORPOVEX, a State-owned, controlled entity. Saab used many different shells, to import / sell lowest-possible-quality foodstuff with huge markups, however three -yet to be exposed- have appeared in the context of an MLAT request to Switzerland's Federal Tribunal by U.S. Dept. of Justice: Driade SA, Vilex Trading Inc., and Bolcos Universal Corp.
The last two are particularly, and hopefully legally painful, for Joseph Benhamou, the thug running CBH. See Benhamou is ear-deep in Venezuela's largest ever ($4+ billion) money laundering scheme (Atlantic - PDVSA), and now, as reported by Gotham City, his 'bank' appears as an intermediary of Vilex Trading Inc. and of Bolcos Universal Corp. This isn't, of course, the only Saab related Swiss angle. Do recall that Saab's Swiss representative (Jean Paul Rivas) tried, according to Francisco Morillo, to negotiate a mega deal with Trafigura (Trenaco). Will Benhamou and his 'bank' ever be brought to justice for services rendered to Venezuela's top criminals? Now, subscribe and go read for more details.
