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Venezuelan authorities arrest 5 officials for embezzling $84 million

President Maduro declared the start of a campaign against corruption in June

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

CARACAS, July 9 (Itar-Tass) - Venezuelan authorities have arrested five officials on charges of embezzling $ 84 million from the Venezuelan-Chinese Fund, President Nicolas Maduro said Monday as he addressed a meeting with Amazonas State residents.

He did not specify either the names of the arrested individuals or the positions they occupied.

The Venezuelan-Chinese Fund reporting to the Bank of Social and Economic Development of Venezuela was set up in 2008 at the initiative of late President Hugo Chavez for financing various joint projects.

Over the past five years of the Fund’s history, China and Venezuela have remitted almost $ 36 billion to it.

President Maduro declared the start of a campaign against corruption in June. The first officials to be taken to custody as part of it were the chief of the customs office at the seaport of La Guaira and the director of inspections department at the Institute for the Defense of Consumers Rights Protection Institute, which reports to the Ministry of Trade.

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Radioactive cloud from Ukraine’s eliminated munitions drifts to Europe — Security Council

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Ukrainian army strikes own surrendering soldiers — POW

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Russian cosmonauts begin first spacewalk in 2024

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