Posted on 06/22/2002 4:09:59 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's national elections council said it was investigating allegations that President Hugo Chavez's political party failed to report dlrs 1.5 million in campaign donations from a Spanish bank.
Council president Roberto Ruiz said Thursday that the council may present a report within 15 days.
The investigation was prompted by deputies from the opposition COPEI party and by a complaint filed by Tulio Alvarez, a private attorney that has represented opposition politicians in filing corruption charges against Chavez
Alvarez accused Chavez and his campaign officers of violating campaign finance laws, El Nacional newspaper reported Thursday. Venezuelan laws require full disclosure of donations and prohibit donations from foreign business interests.
Also Thursday, the Supreme Court granted ordinary citizens the right to ask the court to strip the president and other officials of immunity from trial. Previously, only the attorney general could petition the court.
The court ruled on a petition filed by Alvarez, who argued that Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez should not investigate 14 criminal corruption complaints pending against Chavez. because he is a Chavez ally.
Spokesmen for the Chavez government refused comment Thursday.
According to a letter from the managing director of the Spanish bank BBVA, the bank sent money in 1998 and 1999 to a Dutch Antilles offshore account in the name of Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party. The accounts held some dlrs 200 million when they were closed in 2000.
Caracas' El Universal newspaper reported that Chavez and former Interior Minister Luis Miquilena were registered in 1998 as the only administrators of the party's campaign funding. BBVA's Banco Provincial is one of Venezuela's three biggest banks.
The funds transfer was revealed as part of an ongoing investigation by Spain's top investigating magistrate into secret offshore accounts once held by BBVA.
Baltasar Garzon has said there was evidence of misappropriation and fraud in a network of off-the-books accounts BBVA maintained for more than a decade.
According to Spanish authorities, Chavez's political party received a dlrs 500,000 donation in November 1998 for Chavez's presidential campaign. The remainder was for the party's 1999 campaign for a constituent assembly.
The second deposit was equal to nearly 80 percent of the Fifth Republic Movement's declared campaign spending for the constituent assembly, El Universal said.
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