CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s ruling party-controlled National Assembly on Thursday approved a law allowing the government to seize assets linked to corruption cases, as it investigates irregularities at state oil company PDVSA and other state companies.
According to the law, the government would sell these assets to finance public services, infrastructure and social programs.
It is a “very important law in the fight against corruption … so that impunity is not the currency of common use,” National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said after the law was passed.
Since March, the prosecutor’s office has arrested 61 people, including officials and businessmen, for corruption in PDVSA and state-owned steel, iron and aluminum companies, as well as a state-owned cardboard manufacturer.
Sources have told Reuters the crackdown was in part motivated by the need for dollars to maintain exchange rate policy and increase spending ahead of the 2024 elections.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Writing by Sarah Morland and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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