Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using this site's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui@gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.
A propos of news yesterday from Cape Verde regarding extradition of Alex Saab, recall Baker & Hostetler idiotic claims about Alex Saab's 'diplomatic immunity', and how such immunity exonerates him not only from jurisdiction of U.S. courts but from criminal prosecution altogether? Well, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DoJ) response to it (see pdf below) is akin to a bitch-slap.
Quoting from source: "MBaer Merchant Bank AG is majority-owned by Swiss investors, while other groups of shareholders are based in Asia and the Middle East. The shareholders include numerous private investors, above all entrepreneurs who are also our clients and are themselves widely connected." [bold added] Frank Glundler is the Chief Compliance Officer of Mbaer Merchant Bank AG.
A well known trope in Venezuela is that Hugo Chavez was the most charismatic politician, and that Nicolas Maduro was just the loyal fool handpicked to continue the "Bolivarian Revolution". When Chavez's death was announced, nobody gave Maduro much of a chance. The thinking was that he was no Chavez, that he didn't have what it took. Maduro has been massively underestimated. For years. Yet he can easily claim to be the shrewdest, more so than even Chavez, whose time in power was aided by the largest oil windfall ever received.
Recent news from Gotham City revealed that Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH) had intermediated for Alex Saab in some completely corrupt Venezuela-related business. Unsurprising, considering players. In June 2020, sources informed this site that Colombian - Swiss citizen Jorge Guillermo Wurms Forero was Alex Saab's proxy.
The following is part of a book I am writing on Venezuela's corruption. It explains Smartmatic's "success" in Venezuela. Donate £1 / $1 / €1 here, if you think I should continue.
The Miami Herald reported the following, on Friday May 28, 2004:
Thug Alejandro Betancourt was recently in the news. A data scrapping effort by France's Le Monde (#OpenLux) revealed Betancourt uses Luxembourg in his money laundering activities. Readers of this site had known that, of course, for many years. The Miami Herald had -at last- the decency to link to this site's story about Betancourt's little energy deal with the Russians: Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. and Petrozamora. Again, nothing new there, that stuff was exposed here years ago.
An email from the Data Protection Commission in Ireland, which oversees Twitter's behaviour in Europe under GDPR rules, brought into focus the reality of dealing with unaccountable social media platforms. After's Twitter's decision to permanently suspend my verified @alekboyd account, I filed a GDPR request with the watchdog. What I wanted, still want, was to recover my account's data, tweets, pictures, etc.
We have been meaning to dive into #OpenLux, Le Monde's data scrapping exercise at Luxembourg's registry of companies. This site has been keeping track of activities in that principality for a while. In 2016 we exposed Derwick Associates's "diversification" (read money laundering) into Luxembourg's jurisdiction. Yesterday, the Miami Herald and OCCRP reported on #OpenLux findings, however both outlets contain inaccurate information.
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