Venezuela shuts down 3 more banks
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CARACAS, Venezuela - CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's finance minister said Friday that the government is shutting down three more banks after detecting violations.
The government is taking over management of the Central, Baninvest and Real banks, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez announced Friday, saying: "They violated the rules they're obliged to follow."
He said the government aims to rehabilitate the banks in order to reopen them.
The shutdowns come on top of the closings of four other banks by authorities earlier this week in a widening scandal that is rattling the Venezuelan banking system.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz said earlier that authorities have asked a court to order 10 more people detained in the scandal involving the four banks initially accused of irregularities.
Authorities have already arrested businessman Ricardo Fernandez, who led a group of investors that recently bought the four banks, Canarias, Confederado, Bolivar and ProVivienda (BanPro). He and his lawyer, Jose Camacho, are charged with misappropriating deposits and providing loans to other businesses in which they were investors.
The attorney general said the lawyer's daughter, Caribay Camacho de Castro, has also been detained and is accused of being an accomplice. Ortega also asked a court to bar 19 people from leaving the country in the case.
President Hugo Chavez praised the actions by prosecutors and said if other suspects flee the country, Venezuela should seek their extradition.
A court last week barred 16 former bank executives from leaving the country while the investigation proceeds.
The four banks initially shut down by the government were bought in September and October by a group of investors headed by Fernandez, who had a lucrative business selling products to a network of state-run subsidized markets known as Mercal.
Ortega said Fernandez purchased one of the banks fraudulently since he used clients' savings deposits to buy Canarias bank, which is illegal.
A group of Canarias' former employees protested on Friday outside its headquarters in Caracas, demanding payments that they are owed.
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