Venezuelan opposition congressman accused of money laundering

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-6-27 11:47:55

Venezuelan opposition party congressman Richard Mardo has been accused of money laundering and tax evasion, Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz said Wednesday.

Ortega told a press conference her office has enough evidence to justify a pretrial hearing in the case against Mardo, head of Venezuela's conservative Justice First (PJ) Party, which fielded losing presidential candidate Henrique Capriles in the past elections.

Ortega appeared in Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) Tuesday, asking the judges to rule on whether the case merits an investigation, for which the court has 30 days to decide.

If the court rules that it does, the SCJ will ask the National Assembly to strip Mardo of parliamentary immunity, which means he can be tried.

The accusations against Mardo were made public on February 6 when the assembly's Accounting Committee President Pedro Carreno presented peers with several checks allegedly received by Mardo.

According to Carreno, the money was for financing Mardo's campaign in regional elections last December, in which he was running for the governor of Aragua state, a post the ruling socialist party finally won.

Mardo, according to the charges, received more than 600,000 Venezuelan bolivares (about $95,000) to fund his electoral campaign, without paying any income tax on the amount nor declaring the campaign contribution as required to the National Electoral Council.

According to Ortega, Mardo also made several bank withdrawals and deposits totalling up to 1 million bolivares (more than $158,000), while "denying knowledge of the source or destination of the money."

Posted in: Americas

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