Kenneth RijockWorld CheckJune 08, 2008Actions being taken lately by certain Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) from Venezuela seem to indicate that they are making plans to leave the country in the event that the November elections do not go their way. Due to the national economic nightmare, and the anti-corruption feelings present in Venezuela, at least half of the state governor elections could be lost by the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV), whose President's approval rating has plunged to single digits. I am afraid that, even with the usual election fraud that we have seen employed before, they cannot win these elections. Thus, the PEPs are on the move.Look at the following facts:
- A leading PEP, a bank owner who is a close advisor to the Chavez government, has quietly obtained residency for himself & his entire family in the Principality of Monaco, a non-EU country with bank secrecy that is on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) list of uncooperative tax havens for refusing to sign an agreement to share information. According to eyewitnesses, the PEPs father was overheard to explain that his son has only until November to take get his affairs in order. Whether he plans to quit the country after the elections with his fortune already sitting intact in the banks of an offshore financial centre is a question that needs to be answered.
- Another bank owner is seeking to sell out to the Venezuelan government. Why one would wish to sell a successful bank, unless the object was to liquidate ones' major asset, which could then be transferred overseas.
- A number of prominent Venezuelans with close ties to the present government have opened offices in the Republic of Panama, and some are spending most of their time there. The number of accounts of Venezuelan nationals in Panama are growing.
- The number of prominent PEPs who have purchased mansions in the United States is increasing.
- Certain bank owners and PEPs who previously spent all their time in Venezuela and the United States are now in Western Europe, traveling in and out of Venezuela only briefly on business, and then immediately leaving their country.
- International business jet travel by the Bolivarian elite, the 20 or so businessmen who are extremely close to the government, has increased of late.
The purpose of World-Check Comment & Analysis is to examine seemingly disconnected events and facts, and synthesise a conclusion. Are these individuals running scared? You decide.
