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Venezuela arrests cousin of ex-oil czar in corruption probe

Posted December 01, 2017 6:00 am

By JORGE RUEDA

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's chief prosecutor says a cousin of former Venezuelan oil czar Rafael Ramirez has been arrested in an investigation into a series of accounts in an Andorran bank suspected of being used to launder about $1.6 billion.

Diego Salazar's arrest comes amid a widening corruption probe into Venezuela's state-run oil industry that some see as an attempt by President Nicolas Maduro to consolidate power within his socialist party ahead of next year's presidential elections. Many proteges of Ramirez have been detained, including former Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino and Nestor Martinez, ex-president of state oil company PDVSA.

Ramirez himself has not been arrested though there are unconfirmed reports he has been dismissed from his post as Venezuela's U.N. ambassador. Observers see him as the ultimate target of the purge.

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