Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appointed a new petroleum minister on Tuesday after the department’s powerful former boss resigned over an anti-corruption crackdown that has seen several high-ranking officials arrested.
Pedro Tellechea, an army colonel and president of the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) takes over as the new minister for petroleum during a “special operation against corruption” that has so far led to the arrest of 19 top officials.
Former petroleum minister Tareck El Aissami resigned on Monday after prosecutors began investigating officials at PDVSA.
“I met with the President of PDVSA, Engineer Pedro Tellechea, and I appointed him as the new Minister of Petroleum, within the framework of the transformation process that the industry is undergoing. Maximum efficiency partner!” Maduro tweeted.
Tellechea, a mechanical engineer with a background in public finance, took over as president of PDVSA in January from Asdrubal Chavez, cousin of the late former President Hugo Chavez.
El Aissami, who spent nearly three years on the job, has said he supports the government’s “crusade” against corruption.
Several of those arrested in the corruption probe have ties to El Aissami, according to local media.
Among them is congressman Hugbel Roa, creator of the Petro, a state-owned cryptocurrency backed by the country’s vast crude reserves.
On Tuesday, Venezuela’s ruling-party-controlled National Assembly revoked Roa’s immunity from prosecution.
El Aissami, sanctioned by the United States, has held several important positions over the last two decades, serving as vice president, as well as Minister of the Interior and Minister of Industry.
Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said his office has investigated 27 “corruption schemes” in PDVSA since 2017, detaining over 200 individuals including top managers in the industry.
A number of the investigations have been linked to former petroleum minister and PDVSA president Rafael Ramirez, one of the trusted men of the late Chavez.
Ramirez is a fugitive in Italy and Venezuelan authorities have requested his extradition without success.
