A report released on October 19, 2016, says at Venezuela’s congress at the national oil company PDVSA that from 2004 to 2014 about $ 11 billion disappeared. The report denounces corruption during the office of the Director Rafael Ramirez.
«It is more than the budget of 5 Central American countries,» said congressional comptroller commission president Freddy Guevara, a member of one of Venezuela's most hardline opposition parties, alleging widespread malpractice at the company.
«We're talking about $US11 billion they cannot justify,» he said as he presented a report by the legislative body that audits the state.
The company manages the world's largest reserves, brings in about 95%t of Venezuela's export revenues and has been the financial motor for 17 years of leftist rule in the OPEC nation.
Critics have long accused PDVSA of corruption. But the company has said it is the victim of a US-led campaign to sabotage socialism.
Neither PDVSA nor Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's UN envoy, responded immediately to requests for comment.
Venezuela is engulfed in a protracted economic crisis that was exacerbated by the sharp decline in oil prices two years ago.
Raising the spectre of default, cash-strapped PDVSA said it «could be difficult» to pay large looming debt commitments if a proposed $US5.3 billion bond swap does not go through.
«If PDVSA is unable to pay its international creditors ... it is because they robbed this money,» said Guevara, a former student leader and member of the Popular Will Party.
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