Venezuela seeks extradition of former minister accused of corruption 

Venezuela is seeking the extradition of a former top energy minister and critic of the regime from Europe as the government launched legal action against the official, the state attorney-general’s office said on Friday. 

The Venezuelan government is trying to obtain an extradition order for Rafael Ramirez, former head of the state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and oil minister, who is currently in Italy. 

Additionally, the Venezuelan government is requesting the extradition of the former deputy energy minister Nervis Villalobos, who resides in Spain. 

“The two former officials are being sought in connection with an investigation that centers on alleged deals in which PDVSA paid for money purportedly borrowed from a firm named Atlantic in 2012,” reported Reuters

“The two former officials are being sought in connection with an investigation that centers on alleged deals in which PDVSA paid for money purportedly borrowed from a firm named Atlantic in 2012. But the borrowed funds never arrived in the company's coffers, causing it to incur $5 billion in damages,” reported Reuters. 

Furthermore, PDVSA paid back the amount borrowed in bolivars instead of dollars, despite there being rules against trading in foreign currency, the attorney general's office said. 

In August, Ramirez said that the accusations brought against him by the Venezuelan government were “completely false.” He added that all of the financial transactions that took place under his presidency of PDVSA had been audited. 

Venezuela had tried to previously extradite Ramirez over a different corruption case, however, Italy refused the request. 

Ramirez was ousted from his post of 10 years after criticizing Nicolas Maduro's regime. The former official has accused Maduro of running the South American oil industry to the ground and abandoning the socialist principles of Hugo Chavez.