Venezuela report alleges Pequiven mismanagement

11 November 2008 21:49  [Source: ICIS news]

CARACAS (ICIS news)--Pequiven officials would not comment on Tuesday on a government report detailing financial irregularities revolving around maintenance and repair work at the state producer's El Tablazo petrochemical plant.

The General Accounting Office recently submitted a report to the National Assembly alleging improper contracting procedures, lack of financial oversight and mismanagement of funds.

According to the report presented by general comptroller Clodosbaldo Russian, between 2002 and 2005 there were "significant deviations of funds" that were supposed to have financed maintenance and repair work at the  3.2m tonne/year chemicals plant.

The report cited "a number of faults associated with the planning and execution of investments," and highlighted what it said were "weakness in the system of administrative and legal control" and "lack of procedures to detect diversion of funds”.

The report also noted that Pequiven had failed to adequately align its finances for those fiscal years, which led to "distortions" in the approved budgets for the maintenance work.

The report did not say how much money was found to be missing.

As well, the report alleges that during an inspection, inspectors saw "corrosion and damage" in the insulation of several pipelines and at the soda chloride and vinyl monochloride plants.

In recent years, as local consumer demand for plastic products has soared, Pequiven has been unable to supply transformers with sufficient resins to meet that demand, largely hamstrung by lack of production capacity and a string of unexpected operational failures.

Pequiven officials did not respond to requests for comment nor have issued any public statements concerning the comptroller's report.

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For more on the El Tablazo plant visit ICIS plants and projects

By: Jasmina Kelemen
+1 713 525 2653

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