The Venezuelan government is investigating an allegation that a Portuguese company funneled millions in unexplained payments to government officials to obtain a contract to revamp and then operate the country’s second-largest port, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald have learned.
The allegation is that the company paid out the money, laundered through shell companies, to currently unnamed Venezuelan officials, some of whom live in the United States. In exchange, the company, Teixeira Duarte, was to be granted the opportunity to upgrade the port, build a highway expansion and then operate the port under a lucrative 20-year concession, according to the allegation.
A central figure in the alleged scheme is Jorge Hernández Fernández, the owner of a Venezuelan sports team. He did not respond to requests for comment. The claim, as laid out in documents provided to prosecutors, is that Hernández functioned as a consultant and a middleman, arranging the deal, including payments to himself and to the officials through specially created shell companies, then became upset when he felt shortchanged by millions of dollars.
