More than a year after stepping down as Venezuela’s oil minister, Tareck El Aissami has been arrested on charges of corruption. Accused of embezzling funds from Venezuela’s state oil company, El Aissami, once a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro, vanished from public view since his resignation in March 2023. Photos shared by Attorney General Tarek Saab on Tuesday showed El Aissami being escorted away in handcuffs. The arrest also targeted former economy minister Simón Zerpa and businessman Samark López, known for his ties to the Maduro government. Saab, an ally of President Maduro, announced the arrests without specifying the date.
Speculation swirled about El Aissami’s whereabouts after his sudden disappearance. The attorney general stated that the investigation into the corruption scheme involving El Aissami took time. Critics raised concerns about the timing of the arrests, coming just months before President Maduro’s bid for a third term in the presidential election. Saab accused El Aissami of diverting funds from the state oil company, PdVSA, alleging that he used the money for personal purposes, including property renovations and overseas transfers.
According to Saab, El Aissami collaborated with PdVSA executives and officials from the Venezuelan government’s cryptocurrency agency to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars. He faces charges of treason and misappropriation but has not publicly responded to the allegations. When he resigned, El Aissami cited the need for a thorough investigation into corruption within PdVSA. El Aissami and the other arrested officials were already under US sanctions, with El Aissami accused in 2017 by the US Treasury Department of involvement in drug trafficking, and Samark López labeled as his frontman. Simón Zerpa was also sanctioned by the US in 2017 for alleged corruption involvement.