Fabiola Zerpa, Bloomberg News
CARACAS
EnergiesNet.com 04 04 2023
Two former Petroleos de Venezuela SA employees were acquitted by a judge on Saturday, after they had been found guilty in February 2021 of leaking information to a US-based company.
Alfredo Chirinos and Aryenis Torrealba were set free, according to their attorney Antonio Molina. No additional details were provided. PDVSA and the Information Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment after hours.
The decision comes amid a wide corruption probe into the state-oil company’s finances that’s revealed billions in missing revenue and led to at least 21 arrests and the resignation of the nation’s oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, who’s also a close ally to the president.
Chirinos and Torrealba were initially charged of forging documents to sell oil and liquefied natural gas to a US-based company, according to a statement by a commission led in 2020 by El Aissami.
bloomberg.com 04 01 2023