Contenido

Durante su vicepresidencia, la estatal administró 643 millones de dólares que serían invertidos en 223 proyectos de transmisión (líneas y subestaciones). No obstante, tan solo 155 millones de dólares fueron invertidos en proyectos. Según declaraciones de Villalobos estos proyectos eran pagados por el Fondo Chino y el Fondo para el Desarrollo Nacional (Fonden), Es acusado de haber recibido sobornos millonarios a cambio de jugosos contratos, fue retirado en el 2007 de Pdvsa.

La Vueltosa Project, Táchira-Mérida

In 2003, the Fabricio Ojeda Hydroelectric Power Plant project was approved within the Uribante Caparo Hydroelectric Complex, the agreement of which established that the power plant would be ready within a period of 37 months from the signing of the initiation document, for an amount of USD 160,463,000.00. However, in December 2003 it had been signed for USD 125,000,000. In 2007, the Franco-Brazilian Consortium Alstom Power Hidro (CAPHI), was highly questioned and accused of paying officials from the Ministry of Energy and the state-owned CADAFE millions of dollars in bribes to 'win' the La Vueltosa contract, reported the portal Anti-money laundering.com. The delay of the work in 2007 earned Villalobos public ridicule from former president Hugo Chávez during an Aló Presidente and his next dismissal.[5]​ In 2008 the Swiss police raided the offices of this company and proceeded to make several arrests for allegations of corruption and money laundering.[6]​.

Termocentro combined cycle power plant thermoelectric project, Duro Felguera Case

2023; The Spanish Asturian metallurgy company Duro Felguera clarified in the prosecutor's office that from 2008 to 2013 it paid a total of 105.6 million dollars to Nervis Villalobos for alleged consultancies, said amount was paid in three installments, the prosecutor's office indicated: One of 53.9 million dollars, a second of 25 million and a last of 26.6 million. In exchange, said company was awarded a contract for 1.5 billion euros in 2009 to build a power plant, called Termocentro, in the State of Miranda (Venezuela).[7]​The president of Duro Felguera, Juan Carlos Torres Inclán, and the then CEO, Ángel Antonio del Valle, were accused by the prosecution for having delivered a total of 105.6 million dollars.[8]​.

In August 2011, journalist César Batiz denounced the purchase of used electricity generation units by Bariven represented by Javier Alvarado Ochoa and Julia Van Den Brule, lawyer for the Ministry of Energy, during the 2010 energy crisis through three companies (two Venezuelan and one Spanish: Derwick Associates, Técnicas Reunidas Terca CA. and Duro Felguera) that the deputy Enrique Márquez denounced in the National Assembly for overbilling that was not investigated. In a third contract from 2011, the company "Ingeniería Gestión de Proyectos de Energía CA" (Ingespre) appears, owned by Villalobos and his wife Coromoto Torres.[9]​[10][11]​.

The Prosecutor's Office maintains that, in March 2014, thanks to the income received from Duro Felguera, Villalobos acquired at least part of a property located in La Moraleja (Madrid), whose appraisal value was 2.6 million euros.[7]​.

On March 15, 2015, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo "El Mundo (Spain)") published an article about a group of senior Venezuelan government officials with accounts in the Banco de Madrid and the Banco Privado de Andorra with savings in euros resulting from the payment of commissions. According to the article, one of the commissions was paid by the Spanish company Duro Felguera.[12]​.

In March 2016, the Sumarium web portal indicated in an article that the Spanish Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opened investigation proceedings last month against Villalobos and the former president of Duro Felguera, Juan Carlos Torres Inclán, for an alleged crime of international bribery. An investigation by the El Español page "El Español (digital newspaper)") indicated that Villalobos was questioned by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office about the oral advisory contract signed with Duro Felguera for 46 million euros, where he defended the legality of the contract signed by the business group.[3]​.

In September 2016, the El Confidencial web portal published an article in which it reported that the Prosecutor's Office took a statement from Villalobos at the beginning of the year, supported the testimony of the president of Duro Felguera and denied that there were irregularities with the payment received at Banco Madrid, but that other witnesses had provided the Public Ministry with clues that supported the accusation of international bribery.[3]​.

In 2021, Spanish judge Ismael Moreno Chamarro investigated the commissions distributed to Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado Ochoa, fundamental in the corruption scheme. El Mundo revealed in 2015 that Duro Felguera paid 50 million to Nervis Villalobos, former vice minister of Energy, for providing information orally. The Prosecutor's Office concludes that the investigated Villalobos would have received from Duro Felguera to obtain the tender more than 105 million dollars transferred to his bank accounts in Switzerland, Spain and the United States.

Tocoma Project, Odebrecht Case

In 2010, a court of the Principality of Andorra, headed by Judge Canolic Mingorance, heard the case of money laundering in the Private Banking of Andorra. According to the Venezuelan prosecutor's office, at least 16 former senior officials of PDVSA and the Ministry of Popular Power for Petroleum were involved, among whom Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado stand out. On November 30, 2012, at the request of the Andorran Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the US authorities, for alleged money laundering, the accounts of Venezuelan officials had been blocked as a precautionary measure. However, a ruling by the Court of Justice, Anna Estragués, orders the unblocking, dated May 13, 2013, which contradicts the Andorran Prosecutor's Office itself, the United States financial crimes unit, and allows said accounts to be unblocked due to lack of evidence. Thus, the beneficiaries of the ruling were able to withdraw their money.[15]​.

What happened in 2013 set off alarm bells for FinCEN and it prepared a report. The report issued by the US Department of the Treasury through The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in 2015, reveals that Banca D’Andorra facilitated transfers worth US$4.2 billion. This case is also investigated in Spain (Banco de Madrid).[16]​.

In 2016, deputies of the National Assembly "Asamblea Nacional (Venezuela)") questioned the external advisor of the Brazilian company Odebrecht and representative of the OIV Consortium for the four-year delay of the Tocoma dam, and subsequently declared seven former ministers of electric energy of political responsibility: Rafael Ramírez Carreño; Alí Rodríguez Araque; Jesse Chacon; Argenis Chávez; Javier Alvarado and Nervis Villalobos.[17]​.

In conclusion, the Tocoma hydroelectric plant project together with a consortium led by the Brazilian Odebrecht. "Its initial cost (in 2005) was 3,061 million dollars, partially financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In 2011 the total investment reached 5,995.61 million dollars (an increase of 96%), and in 2014 the cost of the work already exceeded 10,371 million dollars (an increase of 239% compared to the initial planned cost)", Transparency states. Venezuela.[18]​.

Other cases

A total of 16 cases have been known according to Venezuela transparency, such as the complaint by Otto Reich, former US ambassador in Venezuela for contracts with the company Derwick Associates, which was awarded 11 contracts for the construction of thermoelectric plants in Venezuela during the years 2009 and 2010. The 11 projects assigned directly to Derwick Associates for more than 5,000 million dollars, showed an overbilling equivalent to 2,933 million dollars.[19]​

Likewise, the Basque energy company Elecnor is also among the companies that allegedly paid “commissions” to Villalobos.[20] Likewise, the Basque energy company Elecnor is also among the companies that allegedly paid “commissions” to Villalobos. Both Villalobos and Elecnor have denied the accusations.

The Vaduz Court of Justice is investigating money laundering crimes, which occurred between January 2009 and around December 2019, in violation of Liechtenstein criminal law, specifically, article 165(1) to (3) of the Liechtenstein Penal Code. According to US authorities, Villalobos Cárdenas personally obtained more than $16 million from an illegal scheme. The investigation revealed that, on August 11, 2011, a consulting firm based in the United States transferred $3,252,962 to the Swiss bank account. Before that, on March 12, 2009, an unknown holder of an International Union Bank account number. On December 2, 2013, USD 1,000,000 was transferred from a bank account in Switzerland to the bank account of Volksbank AG.[21]​.

On October 26, 2017, Villalobos was arrested by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard in Spain by an order from the Central Court of Instruction number 2 of the National Court at the request of a court in the Texas city of Houston that is investigating him for alleged money laundering in the United States in which he is accused of alleged participation in a bribery system related to Petróleos de Venezuela. (PDVSA) extradited due to an appeal presented by Villalobos.[24]​.

On September 13, 2018, the Spanish newspaper El País reported that Villalobos was prosecuted by a court in Andorra for his alleged connection with money laundering in a banking establishment and membership in a network that collected bribes between 2007 and 2012 from companies that later benefited from million-dollar awards from PDVSA. According to the Andorran police, Villalobos moved 124 million euros through a dozen deposits in Andorra.[3]​.

On September 14, 2018, the Provincial Court of Madrid admitted the appeal that Villalobos' defense filed against his entry into prison, ordered by a judge in May 2018, and he was released on October 11, 2018. Cocuyo Effect noted that the judge was investigating a crime of money laundering following the transfer of almost seven million dollars made between October 2011 and June 2012 to the Lisbon branch of Banco Madrid, money later partially invested to acquire a house in La Moraleja, an urbanization in Madrid, but the audience believed that at the time "it was not clear enough" that the procedure "could lead to a criminal conviction."[3]​.

On October 17, 2018, he was arrested by order of Court 41 of Madrid due to new evidence of the case.[3] The trial was provisionally dismissed in September 2022 due to lack of evidence, however in February 2023 the magistrate continued investigating in another piece, in which Villalobos is not accused, in alleged "dissimulation and camouflage operations, with the aim of defrauding her and obtaining a benefit." illicit" but ordered to block a bank account in Luxembourg with 40 million euros of the company "Mirabaud & CIE S.A." in the name of a company (CVGN Enterprises Group Limited), in which Villalobos appears as owner.[25]​[26]​.

On March 26, 2020, the United States government announced charges against Nicolás Maduro and 14 other pro-government figures, including Nervis Villalobos.[27] On March 3, 2021, the Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland denied granting a residence permit to Nervis Villalobos and his family, considering it a “threat to public safety and a risk to the reputation of the Nation.”[28]​ Nervis Villalobos is in the "Soto del Real prison" in Spain, because he is pending extradition to the United States. A Houston court has accused him since August 2017 of crimes of international corruption and money laundering; he has collaborated with United States prosecutors.[29]​.

On February 8, 2023, the trial that was provisionally dismissed in September 2022 against former minister Nervis Villalobos is reactivated in Spain.[30]​[31]​ The hearing gave an order requested by the Spanish Prosecutor's Office to investigate Luxembourg with the aim of blocking an account with 40 million euros attributed to Nervis Villalobos[32]​.

On May 4, 2023, the government of Andorra blocked minimum accounts where there was still a debt in the amount of 55 million dollars of 21 Venezuelan executives from the alleged illegal commissions paid to the network by contractors who received million-dollar awards from PDVSA before 2015. Among them, 2 million euros (about 2.2 million dollars) belonging to Villalobos and which he managed were blocked. through twelve deposits in the Banca Privada d'Andorra, some 124.2 million euros (137 million dollars).[33]​[34]​.

During September 2025, the judge of the Spanish National Court Santiago Pedraz initiated a new complaint against the Venezuelan Nervis Villalobos and the businessman Alejandro Betancourt López, for alleged crimes of money laundering during the competition for 12 projects for the company Derwick Associates with the Venezuelan state. The police found documents in custody in the Banca Privada d'Andorra that compromise Villalobos, such as "a contract signed by his wife, by which the Ingespre company would help Derwick obtain contracts with the Venezuelan energy sector." The proceedings are carried out by the Central Court of Instruction 5 of the National Court.[35][36]​.

Among the companies controlled by Villalobos are:

• - Engineering Energy Project Management CA (Ingespre) registered in Venezuela.

• - Kingsway Holdings Overseas Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands,.

• - Kingsway Lda, from the Portuguese island of Madeira,.

• - Vamshore Enterprises Limited SA, of Panama,.

• - Kinsway Europe SL, from Spain, and.

• - Auyantepuy INC, from the United States.

All of them are related to specialized projects in the areas of electricity, oil and gas.[13]​.

• - “Swiss Account 1” where Villalobos was co-owner and used to transfer a large part of the 27 million dollars.

• - Corruption in Venezuela.

• - Corruption in the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Contenido

Durante su vicepresidencia, la estatal administró 643 millones de dólares que serían invertidos en 223 proyectos de transmisión (líneas y subestaciones). No obstante, tan solo 155 millones de dólares fueron invertidos en proyectos. Según declaraciones de Villalobos estos proyectos eran pagados por el Fondo Chino y el Fondo para el Desarrollo Nacional (Fonden), Es acusado de haber recibido sobornos millonarios a cambio de jugosos contratos, fue retirado en el 2007 de Pdvsa.

La Vueltosa Project, Táchira-Mérida

In 2003, the Fabricio Ojeda Hydroelectric Power Plant project was approved within the Uribante Caparo Hydroelectric Complex, the agreement of which established that the power plant would be ready within a period of 37 months from the signing of the initiation document, for an amount of USD 160,463,000.00. However, in December 2003 it had been signed for USD 125,000,000. In 2007, the Franco-Brazilian Consortium Alstom Power Hidro (CAPHI), was highly questioned and accused of paying officials from the Ministry of Energy and the state-owned CADAFE millions of dollars in bribes to 'win' the La Vueltosa contract, reported the portal Anti-money laundering.com. The delay of the work in 2007 earned Villalobos public ridicule from former president Hugo Chávez during an Aló Presidente and his next dismissal.[5]​ In 2008 the Swiss police raided the offices of this company and proceeded to make several arrests for allegations of corruption and money laundering.[6]​.

Termocentro combined cycle power plant thermoelectric project, Duro Felguera Case

2023; The Spanish Asturian metallurgy company Duro Felguera clarified in the prosecutor's office that from 2008 to 2013 it paid a total of 105.6 million dollars to Nervis Villalobos for alleged consultancies, said amount was paid in three installments, the prosecutor's office indicated: One of 53.9 million dollars, a second of 25 million and a last of 26.6 million. In exchange, said company was awarded a contract for 1.5 billion euros in 2009 to build a power plant, called Termocentro, in the State of Miranda (Venezuela).[7]​The president of Duro Felguera, Juan Carlos Torres Inclán, and the then CEO, Ángel Antonio del Valle, were accused by the prosecution for having delivered a total of 105.6 million dollars.[8]​.

In August 2011, journalist César Batiz denounced the purchase of used electricity generation units by Bariven represented by Javier Alvarado Ochoa and Julia Van Den Brule, lawyer for the Ministry of Energy, during the 2010 energy crisis through three companies (two Venezuelan and one Spanish: Derwick Associates, Técnicas Reunidas Terca CA. and Duro Felguera) that the deputy Enrique Márquez denounced in the National Assembly for overbilling that was not investigated. In a third contract from 2011, the company "Ingeniería Gestión de Proyectos de Energía CA" (Ingespre) appears, owned by Villalobos and his wife Coromoto Torres.[9]​[10][11]​.

The Prosecutor's Office maintains that, in March 2014, thanks to the income received from Duro Felguera, Villalobos acquired at least part of a property located in La Moraleja (Madrid), whose appraisal value was 2.6 million euros.[7]​.

On March 15, 2015, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo "El Mundo (Spain)") published an article about a group of senior Venezuelan government officials with accounts in the Banco de Madrid and the Banco Privado de Andorra with savings in euros resulting from the payment of commissions. According to the article, one of the commissions was paid by the Spanish company Duro Felguera.[12]​.

In March 2016, the Sumarium web portal indicated in an article that the Spanish Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opened investigation proceedings last month against Villalobos and the former president of Duro Felguera, Juan Carlos Torres Inclán, for an alleged crime of international bribery. An investigation by the El Español page "El Español (digital newspaper)") indicated that Villalobos was questioned by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office about the oral advisory contract signed with Duro Felguera for 46 million euros, where he defended the legality of the contract signed by the business group.[3]​.

In September 2016, the El Confidencial web portal published an article in which it reported that the Prosecutor's Office took a statement from Villalobos at the beginning of the year, supported the testimony of the president of Duro Felguera and denied that there were irregularities with the payment received at Banco Madrid, but that other witnesses had provided the Public Ministry with clues that supported the accusation of international bribery.[3]​.

In 2021, Spanish judge Ismael Moreno Chamarro investigated the commissions distributed to Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado Ochoa, fundamental in the corruption scheme. El Mundo revealed in 2015 that Duro Felguera paid 50 million to Nervis Villalobos, former vice minister of Energy, for providing information orally. The Prosecutor's Office concludes that the investigated Villalobos would have received from Duro Felguera to obtain the tender more than 105 million dollars transferred to his bank accounts in Switzerland, Spain and the United States.

Tocoma Project, Odebrecht Case

In 2010, a court of the Principality of Andorra, headed by Judge Canolic Mingorance, heard the case of money laundering in the Private Banking of Andorra. According to the Venezuelan prosecutor's office, at least 16 former senior officials of PDVSA and the Ministry of Popular Power for Petroleum were involved, among whom Nervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado stand out. On November 30, 2012, at the request of the Andorran Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the US authorities, for alleged money laundering, the accounts of Venezuelan officials had been blocked as a precautionary measure. However, a ruling by the Court of Justice, Anna Estragués, orders the unblocking, dated May 13, 2013, which contradicts the Andorran Prosecutor's Office itself, the United States financial crimes unit, and allows said accounts to be unblocked due to lack of evidence. Thus, the beneficiaries of the ruling were able to withdraw their money.[15]​.

What happened in 2013 set off alarm bells for FinCEN and it prepared a report. The report issued by the US Department of the Treasury through The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in 2015, reveals that Banca D’Andorra facilitated transfers worth US$4.2 billion. This case is also investigated in Spain (Banco de Madrid).[16]​.

In 2016, deputies of the National Assembly "Asamblea Nacional (Venezuela)") questioned the external advisor of the Brazilian company Odebrecht and representative of the OIV Consortium for the four-year delay of the Tocoma dam, and subsequently declared seven former ministers of electric energy of political responsibility: Rafael Ramírez Carreño; Alí Rodríguez Araque; Jesse Chacon; Argenis Chávez; Javier Alvarado and Nervis Villalobos.[17]​.

In conclusion, the Tocoma hydroelectric plant project together with a consortium led by the Brazilian Odebrecht. "Its initial cost (in 2005) was 3,061 million dollars, partially financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In 2011 the total investment reached 5,995.61 million dollars (an increase of 96%), and in 2014 the cost of the work already exceeded 10,371 million dollars (an increase of 239% compared to the initial planned cost)", Transparency states. Venezuela.[18]​.

Other cases

A total of 16 cases have been known according to Venezuela transparency, such as the complaint by Otto Reich, former US ambassador in Venezuela for contracts with the company Derwick Associates, which was awarded 11 contracts for the construction of thermoelectric plants in Venezuela during the years 2009 and 2010. The 11 projects assigned directly to Derwick Associates for more than 5,000 million dollars, showed an overbilling equivalent to 2,933 million dollars.[19]​

Likewise, the Basque energy company Elecnor is also among the companies that allegedly paid “commissions” to Villalobos.[20] Likewise, the Basque energy company Elecnor is also among the companies that allegedly paid “commissions” to Villalobos. Both Villalobos and Elecnor have denied the accusations.

The Vaduz Court of Justice is investigating money laundering crimes, which occurred between January 2009 and around December 2019, in violation of Liechtenstein criminal law, specifically, article 165(1) to (3) of the Liechtenstein Penal Code. According to US authorities, Villalobos Cárdenas personally obtained more than $16 million from an illegal scheme. The investigation revealed that, on August 11, 2011, a consulting firm based in the United States transferred $3,252,962 to the Swiss bank account. Before that, on March 12, 2009, an unknown holder of an International Union Bank account number. On December 2, 2013, USD 1,000,000 was transferred from a bank account in Switzerland to the bank account of Volksbank AG.[21]​.

On October 26, 2017, Villalobos was arrested by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard in Spain by an order from the Central Court of Instruction number 2 of the National Court at the request of a court in the Texas city of Houston that is investigating him for alleged money laundering in the United States in which he is accused of alleged participation in a bribery system related to Petróleos de Venezuela. (PDVSA) extradited due to an appeal presented by Villalobos.[24]​.

On September 13, 2018, the Spanish newspaper El País reported that Villalobos was prosecuted by a court in Andorra for his alleged connection with money laundering in a banking establishment and membership in a network that collected bribes between 2007 and 2012 from companies that later benefited from million-dollar awards from PDVSA. According to the Andorran police, Villalobos moved 124 million euros through a dozen deposits in Andorra.[3]​.

On September 14, 2018, the Provincial Court of Madrid admitted the appeal that Villalobos' defense filed against his entry into prison, ordered by a judge in May 2018, and he was released on October 11, 2018. Cocuyo Effect noted that the judge was investigating a crime of money laundering following the transfer of almost seven million dollars made between October 2011 and June 2012 to the Lisbon branch of Banco Madrid, money later partially invested to acquire a house in La Moraleja, an urbanization in Madrid, but the audience believed that at the time "it was not clear enough" that the procedure "could lead to a criminal conviction."[3]​.

On October 17, 2018, he was arrested by order of Court 41 of Madrid due to new evidence of the case.[3] The trial was provisionally dismissed in September 2022 due to lack of evidence, however in February 2023 the magistrate continued investigating in another piece, in which Villalobos is not accused, in alleged "dissimulation and camouflage operations, with the aim of defrauding her and obtaining a benefit." illicit" but ordered to block a bank account in Luxembourg with 40 million euros of the company "Mirabaud & CIE S.A." in the name of a company (CVGN Enterprises Group Limited), in which Villalobos appears as owner.[25]​[26]​.

On March 26, 2020, the United States government announced charges against Nicolás Maduro and 14 other pro-government figures, including Nervis Villalobos.[27] On March 3, 2021, the Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland denied granting a residence permit to Nervis Villalobos and his family, considering it a “threat to public safety and a risk to the reputation of the Nation.”[28]​ Nervis Villalobos is in the "Soto del Real prison" in Spain, because he is pending extradition to the United States. A Houston court has accused him since August 2017 of crimes of international corruption and money laundering; he has collaborated with United States prosecutors.[29]​.

On February 8, 2023, the trial that was provisionally dismissed in September 2022 against former minister Nervis Villalobos is reactivated in Spain.[30]​[31]​ The hearing gave an order requested by the Spanish Prosecutor's Office to investigate Luxembourg with the aim of blocking an account with 40 million euros attributed to Nervis Villalobos[32]​.

On May 4, 2023, the government of Andorra blocked minimum accounts where there was still a debt in the amount of 55 million dollars of 21 Venezuelan executives from the alleged illegal commissions paid to the network by contractors who received million-dollar awards from PDVSA before 2015. Among them, 2 million euros (about 2.2 million dollars) belonging to Villalobos and which he managed were blocked. through twelve deposits in the Banca Privada d'Andorra, some 124.2 million euros (137 million dollars).[33]​[34]​.

During September 2025, the judge of the Spanish National Court Santiago Pedraz initiated a new complaint against the Venezuelan Nervis Villalobos and the businessman Alejandro Betancourt López, for alleged crimes of money laundering during the competition for 12 projects for the company Derwick Associates with the Venezuelan state. The police found documents in custody in the Banca Privada d'Andorra that compromise Villalobos, such as "a contract signed by his wife, by which the Ingespre company would help Derwick obtain contracts with the Venezuelan energy sector." The proceedings are carried out by the Central Court of Instruction 5 of the National Court.[35][36]​.

Among the companies controlled by Villalobos are:

• - Engineering Energy Project Management CA (Ingespre) registered in Venezuela.

• - Kingsway Holdings Overseas Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands,.

• - Kingsway Lda, from the Portuguese island of Madeira,.

• - Vamshore Enterprises Limited SA, of Panama,.

• - Kinsway Europe SL, from Spain, and.

• - Auyantepuy INC, from the United States.

All of them are related to specialized projects in the areas of electricity, oil and gas.[13]​.

• - “Swiss Account 1” where Villalobos was co-owner and used to transfer a large part of the 27 million dollars.

• - Corruption in Venezuela.

• - Corruption in the government of Nicolás Maduro.