The directors of the Venezuelan “Sidju” end the prison under “house arrest”

Six former executives of the U.S. branch of the state-owned Venezuelan Oil Company (Bedivesa) were transferred from a Caracas prison on Friday, where they were serving eight to 13 years in prison on corruption charges. Their relatives and lawyers informed the agency. France Press.
“We knew hours ago that they were going to relocate,” Veronica Padel told the French Press. “Since we don’t have a family or a house in Venezuela, we had to find a place for him,” said the daughter of 61-year-old Domio Fadel, one of the six convicts.
Patel, who also lives in the United States and was able to talk to his father for a while, said “an unjust prison should be free in his home because he is innocent.”
Fadel’s lawyer, Jesse Loretto, told his clients that he was “relieved and confident” that six former executives “did not expect” the move, which he described as a gesture by Nicolas Maduro’s government to the United States.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has indicted six people on November 26, 2020 on corruption charges. They have been detained since November 2017, and Washington has repeatedly called for their release.
Jose Pereira Romwick, the former head of Sedjo, was sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison, specifically on charges of financial misconduct, and fined $ 2 million or 40 percent of the “value of any property” in the case, according to the Supreme Court.
Each of the former CIDCO directors, Tommy Waddell, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Gordonas, Jose Luis Sambrano and Allerio Sambrano were each sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison.
Peria Romwick is a Venezuelan living in the United States, while the other five officers have dual American and Venezuelan national races.
They were placed under house arrest for the first time in December 2019, before being re-incarcerated in February 2020.
Washington recognizes opposition leader Juan Guido as caretaker president and handed over the CIDCO administration to his camp in 2019.
The U.S. Treasury Department has taken steps to prevent lenders of this subsidiary of “Bedivasa” from any attempt to confiscate its shares to recover their debts.
(AFP)