By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former chief executive officer at U.S. oil refiner Citgo Petroleum helped alleged Venezuelan drug trafficker Carlos Orense move money in the mid-2000s, a witness at Orense's trial in New York testified this week.
Antonio Arvelaiz, who has said on the witness stand he helped Orense traffic cocaine from 2003-2010, said on Monday he was present for conversations in 2003 or 2004 in which Orense and the former CEO, Luis Marin, discussed using Citgo contracts to get drug proceeds out of the United States.
The testimony came at Orense's trial on charges of shipping tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say Orense bribed senior Venezuelan military officials to ensure safe passage for his drugs. Orense has pleaded not guilty.
Asked on Tuesday to respond to Arvelaiz's testimony that he helped Orense move drug money, Marin - who served as Citgo's CEO from 2003 to 2005 - told Reuters he did not know Arvelaiz.
He said he met Orense because he worked with his brother at an affiliate of state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, but said, "I never had any business relationship with that man."
Employees of Citgo - a PDVSA subsidiary - have been accused of wrongdoing in other cases. A former procurement officer pleaded guilty in 2021 to taking bribes. But no Citgo executive has previously been accused of complicity with the drug trade.
A spokesperson for Citgo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company faces a court-organized auction next year for shares in one of its parent companies to raise proceeds to pay Venezuelan-linked creditors owed billions of dollars.
In court papers last month, U.S. prosecutors said the trial would include testimony that a former CEO of a company matching Citgo's description arranged for the company to sign a contract with a shell firm that took deposits from Orense's U.S. drug sales and transferred the money to overseas bank accounts.
Arvelaiz on Monday said Orense gave cash to one of Marin's contacts in the United States. Marin would then move the money out through a contract he had with Orense or one of his associates, Arvelaiz said.
Arvelaiz, who said he served as a member of Orense's security detail at the time, said he recalled Orense and Marin discussing the arrangement at Marin's ranch in Venezuela.
"(Orense) was telling Luis Marin that the ball was now in his court and that he needed to do his part now," Arvelaiz testified.
Orense's defense lawyers have sought to undermine Arvelaiz' credibility, arguing he is falsely implicating Orense in the hopes of being able to remain in the United States. Arvelaiz pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 2015.
The United States has long accused high-ranking Venezuelan officials of involvement in drug trafficking, contributing to frosty relations between Washington and Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist, has himself been indicted on U.S. "narcoterrorism" charges, which he called false and racist.