CARACAS, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Canadian gold miner Crystallex International Corp has sued the U.S. arm of Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, saying the subsidiary could prevent it from collecting compensation in a nationalization dispute.
A World Bank tribunal in April ordered Venezuela to pay Crystallex $1.4 billion for the expropriation of its Las Cristinas gold mining project. lawsuit, filed in a Delaware court on Monday, accuses PDVSA of illegally moving funds out of Citgo through financial operations including a recently concluded debt swap that uses Citgo shares as collateral.
Venezuela is facing similar legal claims by around 20 companies, some of which have suggested they could seek to seize Citgo assets if they do not receive compensation.
The Crystallex case echoes many of the arguments made by oil producer ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP.N in an October lawsuit that accuses PDVSA of fraudulent transfers through operations including the recent bond swap. government of President Nicolas Maduro has called the Crystallex award unfair and insists the bond swap is legal and legitimate.
PDVSA last month said it had completed the swap, issuing $3.4 billion in bonds maturing in 2020 with backing of Citgo shares in exchange for $2.8 billion in bonds maturing in 2017.