Andorra la VellaThe Constitutional Court has accepted that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a civil actor in the case against former managers of Petroleos de Venezuela, the plot of Venezuelans who managed through BPA the alleged bribes in exchange for the concession of public works with the corresponding laundering of capital and the ex-directors of the Andorran bank who allegedly helped them carry out the operation. The amount of money the oil company lost is at least two billion dollars.
According to the Constitutional, it was discussed “whether or not the States can hold, in general, this legitimacy (being a civil actor in a trial against individual people). And, secondly, the litigation has had as its object the fact of discerning whether, in in the case of these actions, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela can exercise its rights as a civil party, in accordance with the rules applicable to the case.Although not very numerous, there are some cases in which States have appeared and have been admitted as a party in matters of fundamental rights and freedoms before the European Court of Human Rights”.
The ruling states that “if the civil plaintiff (Venezuela), duly entitled to the process, is limited to claiming and proving the damages or losses caused by the eventual crime, whether these damages are of a material, moral or reputational nature, She will be well represented. If she ignores these functions and takes care of other matters, she can be expelled from the procedure with a well-founded decision. And if she limits herself to formulating allegations, she will be in the plenary phase when the courts will have to decide whether it is legitimate in the case to receive the eventual compensation requested in the exercise of the actio ex delicto, or if it is not, because the estimation of the civil action does not proceed or because this corresponds to another person, be it the entity Petróleos de Venezuela, SA or anyone else for whom the Public Prosecutor’s Office requests it.”
From this perspective, the Batllia aute and the subsequent ones that have been dictated and that denied Venezuela the possibility of being a civil actor, “are extemporaneous because they are premature”.
