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Maltese Company Involved In Venezuelan Money-Laundering Scandal Revealed

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The Malta Financial Service Authority, the American Homeland Security Investigations and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit have been investigating the implications of money laundering involving a mysterious Maltese company working closely with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Times of Malta and Maltatoday named P.C.M Ltd as the Maltese company behind the Venezuelan money laundering scandal.

It has also been revealed that the agency has been under investigation by the FIAU for months. A company director told MaltaToday that P.C.M was not aware of being the accused firm.

The claims that a Maltese firm was laundering money on behalf of Maduro made international headlines last week when it was announced by the US Department of Homeland Security that large amounts of money were being laundered from Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela. It has been claimed that almost a billion euros have been laundered between 2014 and 2015 only.

The Times of Malta reported that among the company’s clients there were prominent names such as José Vincente Amparan Croquer, a Venezuelan lawyer, who is associated with a number of money laundering schemes operating as a real estate investment firm.

According to the report, Croquer had ties to an unidentified local investment firm, which has now been confirmed to be P.C.M. Ltd.

A number of unnamed parties in the Homeland Security document have also been confirmed as clients by the company.

The operation investigating this scheme has been ongoing for over two years, when way back in 2015 it was suspected that Croquer used Maltese firms to transfer over €500 million from the Venezuelan oil company to officials who worked for the company itself.

A fine of €350,000 has been issued to the company over a series of discrepancies earlier this year.

“This decision was based on extensive volumes of payment transactions executed by the company, for its clients, without any licence to offer this service,” a source told The Times of Malta.

These irregular transactions took place between 2012 and 2016 and amounted to over 700 transactions.

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