Because there is no transparency, it is not possible to look at the details of transactions within the exchange control office CADIVI. Lately new journal Sexto Poder has been somehow getting information from within and has been reporting some amazing ripoffs in CADIVI. This week they showed how a request denied twice by previous CADIVI administrations, because they did not qualify at all, was magically approved when the new President of CADIVI was appointed.
But the case I liked the most because it is so easy to understand is the one above from a company called Henglobal. Henglobal apparently operates from within the La Carlota military base in Caracas and while normal companies have to wait over 100 days for approval.
But not Henglobal. Their requests for residential intercom systems are approved in seven days and they submit from 10 to 15 a month. Besides this anomaly, notice that these intercom systems, which typically cost about US$ 25,000 for a large building in Caracas, are approved for US$ 965,000. Thus, the owners get this amount at Bs.2.15, but most of it is profit because it only costs US$ 25,000. Assume ten a month, twelve months every year and this gives the company a tidy profit of around US$ 112 million.
In previous exchange control systems in Venezuela there were independent verifying companies that would check prices with international sources before approval. No such thing was done this time around. Thus, the pretty robolution finds ways to steal everywhere, which explains in part how come the large windfall the country has enjoyed has not produced the minimum results you would expect.
There are dozens of stories like the one above, this one is just the simplest scam you can find. More as they show them.
