It’s Madrid, March 2017. A former official in Venezuela's oil ministry, a lawyer, and three financial advisors are meeting to discuss business. They want to move corruptly-obtained cash without anyone noticing. But little do they know, one of them is wearing a hidden microphone, and records the whole conversation, laying bare the mechanics of a plot to launder millions of dollars embezzled from Venezuela’s state oil company.
From OCCRP and the Colombian production company La No Ficción, this investigative series dissects this secret recording and the broader corruption scheme that siphoned off $1.2 billion from Venezuela's state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).
Across five episodes, it follows exiled Venezuelan journalist Laura Weffer as she tries to track down Carmelo Urdaneta, the former oil ministry official who plays a key role in the billion-dollar money laundering conspiracy.
The series also traces the human cost of this corruption, including Laura’s own journey into exile and the voices of other Venezuelans who were battling a severe economic crisis at the same time that their oil money was being “cleaned” by professionals abroad.
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This podcast was originally produced in Spanish. But in light of recent events in Venezuela, we are sharing it with a wider audience through this English version, a human-reviewed AI translation. This is our first time using this technology, so minor variations and AI-imperfections may occur. The podcast is available in the original Spanish, at the below links:
We would love your feedback on this experiment at occrp.org/podcast
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