Ex-Venezuelan top oil officials arrested on corruption charges

CARACAS, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two former top oil officials were arrested on charges of corruption, Venezuelan Prosecutor General Tareck William Saab said on Thursday.

Eulogio del Pino and Nelson Martinez, who served this year respectively as oil minister and president of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, were arrested "in order to dismantle the cartel ... causing serious damage to the patrimony" of the country, Saab said at a press conference.

Martinez, who was arrested early Wednesday, is charged with wrongdoing in relation to the debt refinancing of PDVSA affiliate in the United States Citgo Petroleum, which was carried out without the authorization of President Nicolas Maduro, said Saab.

He is accused of embezzling, conspiring with contractors, and conspiracy to commit a crime, among other charges.

Del Pino, arrested early Thursday, is charged with sabotaging Petrozamora, the Russian-Venezuelan joint venture, which registered losses of 15 million barrels of oil per day between 2014 and 2017, said Saab.

"Both arrests should not be seen as isolated events. They should be seen as a wide-reaching systematic effort" to combat corruption, he added.

So far, as many as 65 oil industry executives have been arrested, including 16 top executives, over corruption or embezzlement. Enditem