CARACAS: Former Venezuela oil minister Nelson Martinez, who was arrested in 2017 as part of a sweeping graft probe at state oil company PDVSA, has died in state custody, the prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
Martinez, a chemist who also ran PDVSA and its US subsidiary Citgo Petroleum, had been transferred to a military hospital from prison because of kidney problems, two sources familiar with the matter said earlier. He had a heart attack while receiving dialysis, they said.
In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said Martinez had a “serious chronic disease” that led to his death and offered condolences to his family.
Martinez was jailed after the country’s top prosecutor said he allowed a poor refinancing deal for Citgo to go ahead without government approval. He was arrested alongside Eulogio del Pino, another former oil minister and PDVSA president, who remains jailed. — Reuters
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