Venezuelan government denounces illegal sale of Citgo shares to favor Crystallex - MPPRE

Venezuelan government denounces illegal sale of Citgo shares to favor Crystallex

This Sunday, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounced through a statement the illegal sale of the Venezuelan refinery Citgo Petroleum, located in the United States, which was unlawfully confiscated by the Donald Trump administration in 2019 and handed over to a fraudulent representation of the Venezuelan opposition. This according to the ruling issued by the judge, Leonard P. Stark of the Delaware District Court, and endorsed by the Supreme Court of that country, by which the judicial sale of its shares is authorized to favor the Canadian mining company Crystallex. According to the statement released by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, the sentence intends to execute an award issued by the Arbitration Court of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), for a value of 1.2 billion dollars, based on a claim carried out by the Canadian company, even though neither PDVSA, Citgo, or PDV Holding are debtors of Crystallex nor were they subject to the procedure before the ICSID Arbitration Tribunal.
“Venezuela warns once again that the judicial representatives, who have tried to act on behalf of the Republic and PDVSA in US courts, lack any legitimacy to do so. On the contrary, Venezuela has denounced the very serious fact that the lawyer, who fraudulently claims Representing the Republic, has actually worked as legal advisor to the Crystallex company, and it is he who has promoted the thesis according to which it is intended to misunderstand the heritage of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the heritage of PDVSA”, reads the document. https://mppre.gob.ve/comunicado/venezuela-venta-ilegal-acciones-citgo-petroleum-eeuu/
The People’s Power Minister for Foreign Relations, Jorge Arreaza, through his Twitter account @jaarreaza, branded the process as an act of modern piracy. “Venezuela denounces the decision of the District Court of Delaware, United States, on the judicial sale of the shares of the Citgo company, owned by PDVSA, after carrying out an act of modern piracy through a process that lacks legitimacy”. On the other hand, the Venezuelan Government assured that the fraudulent designation of the Citgo board by Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly in contempt (AN) is not only illegal, but acts to the detriment of the national interest, to the benefit of the interventionists intentions. Crystallex was nationalized in 2011 by the Venezuelan Government after failing to comply with a series of environmental measures. Subsequently, the Canadian company initiated the lawsuit against the Venezuelan State in United States courts. The illegal confiscation of Citgo, a subsidiary of the state-owned PDVSA, and with the largest number of Venezuelan assets abroad, is part of the looting that the Donald Trump government has perpetrated against Venezuela, with the economic, financial and commercial blockade it has imposed since 2014 and whose strategy of drowning the economy has focused on the collapse of the oil industry.