CARACAS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela's PDVSA said on Friday
that Canadian miner Crystallex had no justification for a
complaint in a U.S. court seeking to recover $2.8 billion from
the state oil company.
Crystallex filed the complaint Monday in Delaware, saying
PDVSA and its U.S.-based refining unit Citgo Holding designed a
refinancing deal to lower Citgo's value and dissuade asset
seizures stemming from arbitration awards.
Crystallex is engaged in a $3.1 billion arbitration claim
against Venezuela before an international tribunal over the
termination of its Las Cristinas gold asset in Venezuela.
"Once the official notification of this claim is received,
if it even exists, PDVSA will respond appropriately, given there
is no basis or foundation whatsoever for a claim by Crystallex
against the national oil company," PDVSA president and Oil
Minister Eulogio Del Pino said.
The statement said PDVSA was once again the target of "a
ferocious international media campaign" aimed at undermining the
ruling Socialist government before a Dec. 6 vote for a new
National Assembly in the South American OPEC nation.
Citgo Holding this year issued bonds and loans worth around
$2.8 billion, with dividends distributed to headquarters in
Venezuela, which is suffering a recession and has been hurt by
sliding oil prices.
The debt, Crystallex said in the complaint, was designed to
leave Citgo insolvent on an accounting basis just as arbitration
cases are coming to fruition.
"Through PDVSA and its subsidiaries, Venezuela sought to
monetize its interests in (Citgo) and repatriate those proceeds,
thereby shielding them from attempts to enforce any arbitral
award," Crystallex said in the filing.
"Crystallex is therefore entitled to money damages in the
amount of $2.8 billion or the final amount of its arbitration
award against Venezuela, whichever is lower."
Dozens of companies have sought compensation after their
projects were taken over under late leftist president Hugo
Chavez, who led a wave of nationalizations during his 1999-2013
rule that included the oil, electricity and steel industries.
Del Pino gave no further comments or information on the
Crystallex case in the statement from PDVSA.
(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Hay)