Former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela indicted for alleged tax fraud

 

Former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela indicted for alleged tax fraud:-

A judge at Spain's National Court agreed to prosecute the former Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Raúl Morodo, his son and his daughter-in-law for alleged tax fraud related to a supposed payment of some 4.5 million euros from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

 

In a ruling made public this Monday, Judge Alejandro Abascal proposes to try Raúl Morodo, who is 88 years old and was ambassador to Venezuela between 2004 and 2007, his son Alejo and his daughter-in-law Ana Catalina Varandas de Loureiro for allegedly defrauding the Spanish Treasury in 2013, 2014 and 2017 for profits obtained from their business dealings with the oil company.

This case investigates the alleged receipt of approximately 4.5 million euros from PDVSA by Alejo Morodo through supposedly false legal advisory contracts signed with the oil company between 2012 and 2015, when his father was no longer in charge of the embassy.

 

The money was allegedly laundered later through a complex network of companies created by the son and other individuals under investigation, including the former ambassador's daughter-in-law and two Venezuelan partners, one of whom, Juan Carlos Márquez, committed suicide shortly after testifying.

 

Abascal attributes to the investigated parties an aggravated crime against the Public Treasury, to Raúl Morodo for the year 2014, to his son for those of 2013 and 2014 and to his daughter-in-law for those of 2013, 2014 and 2017.

 

The judge explains in his writing that Alejo Morodo was dedicated to the alleged provision of legal advisory services and, in order to defraud the Treasury, decided to use three companies to avoid the considerable outlay that paying taxes on his own behalf would entail.

 

In this way, he paid taxes on the income through corporate tax, which had a lower tax burden, and part of the profits obtained through these interposed companies were integrated into the assets of the former ambassador, who hid them from the tax authorities, according to the court order.

 

The judge indicates that "these companies, despite the fact that the actual performance of these services was not recorded, received 6 million 696 thousand 221 euros", of which Alejo Morodo supposedly used 4 million 105 thousand 862.56 euros for his personal and family consumption, which he paid through corporate tax in order to fraudulently reduce his tax burden.

 

The court order details that his father also allegedly benefited from the income received through these shell companies, receiving 357,970 euros and incorporating them into his assets, concealing them from the tax authorities.

 

It also specifies that the events investigated for the tax years 2011 and 2012 would be time-barred, while agreeing to dismiss the case against Raúl Morodo's wife and his company MS TRADING SL, considering that there are not sufficient grounds to prove their participation in the crime.

 

The judge gives twenty days to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Spanish State Attorney's Office and the private prosecution, exercised by Manos Limpias, a union known in Spain for its numerous complaints against politicians, judges and businessmen, among others, and which has been denounced on several occasions, to request the opening of oral proceedings and present the indictment documents.

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