Venezuelan military intelligence officials on Friday raided offshore banking group Stanford International Bank, a prosecutor and the US-founded company said. Stanford said it has strictly followed Venezuelan laws and regulations, will cooperate with the investigation and continues to operate normally despite the raid on one of its offices in Caracas.
The top military prosecutor, Ernesto Cedeno, said the case involved espionage. The investigation involved the US Central Intelligence Agency, state media said. President Hugo Chavez has denounced assassination plots linked to the opposition and the United States during his campaign for tough regional elections next month. The targets of his accusations deny them and say he wants to distract voters from concerns including crime and poor public services.
Chavez is nationalising one foreign-owned bank in Venezuela and last year threatened to take over the whole sector. Stanford International Bank is a global financial network, based on the Caribbean island of Antigua, with $51 billion in deposits and assets under management, according to the bank. It was founded in Texas during the Great Depression as an insurance company.
Comments
Comments are closed.