I must say that when the Electricidad de Caracas bond was sold in what was clearly a blatant corruption scam, I was appalled that a US$ 100 million scam could go unnoticed like that. In some sense it is part of the climate of fear created by Chavez and his hoodlums in which many segments of the media are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. But I have been extremely happy to see others reporting the case. From Reuters, to Reporte Diario de La Economia to Ana Julia Jatar, the story is coming out and even though I do not expect this amoral Government to investigate anything, the record is there for all to see.
Today, Teodoro Petkoff covered the issue and it was clear that he had all of the data. But I would like to note one part of his Editorial that may go unnoticed: There is no reason for the Government to create this second part of the foreign exchange market using bonds other than to insure that some people will make so much money just in case Chavez disappears from the Venezuelan political scene anytime soon. Thus, if we saw corruption before, you ain’t thing anything yet! It is also interesting that Petkoff uses names, naming a person that had been acting in the structured note market/scam and now magically appears as an adviser to the Minister of Finance on these matters.
I wonder now where all of the cheerleaders of Chavismo are. They used to come and say so and so was corrupt and now that Venezuela has the most corrupt, unethical and immoral Government in its history they are quiet but still supporting what may be the most aberrant and corrupt Government in the country’s history.
And as Petkoff suggests, either Hugo Chavez knows exactly what is going on or he is an bumbling and incompetent fool. And by now, it is not the latter…
What is strong is the looting by
Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual
The looting of the country is
frankly reaching apocalyptic levels. What happened with the Electricidad de
Caracas bonds reaches new levels on matters of illegal enrichment. The
operation is as follows: Electricidad de Caracas, now in the hands of the
State, announces the issuing of a public debt bond. Amount: 650 million
dollars, ten years maturity and with interest of 8.5%. The buyer will acquire
them with a premium at a price of 105%, that is, for each one thousand dollars
in face value he will pay 1,050. While denominated in dollars the bond will be
paid in Bolivars at the official exchange rate of Bs. F. 2.15 per dollar. Up to
here the procedure follows that steps in the placements of other securities
which insure dollars at the official rate of exchange, later sold in the parallel
market and the profit is split between those that distribute it and those that
share it. But in the case of the electrical bonds, the buyer will have to
forcefully sell his bonds to an unidentified buyer, who will pay in dollars.
The repurchase price fluctuates between Bs.F. 3.42 per dollar to bs. F. 3.6 per
dollar, because the “repurchase “ price is with a discount at 62.7% and 66%.
That is, for each one thousand dollars of the bond the holder will receive 627
or 660 dollars, according to the discount.
But here is where the “kikirigüiki”*
is, the average price of the Venezuelan bonds in the secondary market is of 83%
over its face value. Thus the repurchasers, still anonymous but we can presume
who they are, will make between 170 and 200 dollars for each 1,000 of the bonds
“repurchased” with the discounts mentioned earlier.
You bought at 62 or 66 and you
sold at 83. The full issue (650 million dollars) would produce “earnings”
between 110 and 132 million dollars.
Is this what they nationalized Electricidad
de Caracas for? To transform it into a “corporate agent” of thefts to the
Nation and enrichment of the Government officials and financial operators of
the regimen? We are no longer going to ask if the President knows about this or
if this is being done behind his back. Because it is not only impossible that
he does not know of the enormous frauds that are talking place with the
placement of public debt bonds, but we can presume that having been convinced
by Moris Beracha that the mechanism to be sued to get rid of, without leaving a
trace, the structured notes, which incurred in a patrimonial loss to the nation
over US$ 3 billion, he is taking his time to personally monitor the development
of the operations.
And we have yet to establish a dual exchange rate. When that happens, the orgy
of corruption that will fall upon us will leave as only chicken thieves the famous
operators of Recadi. The moral decomposition of this regime is touching bottom,
the bottom of the pan that they are scraping given the perspective that Chavez
has an expiration date.
*kikiriguiki, slang for shenanigan
The Devil's Excrement 
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