CARACAS (Reuters) – A Venezuelan prosecutor is seeking to freeze the assets of a top opposition leader who is in hiding following corruption charges by the government of leftist President Hugo Chavez, the government said yesterday.
Prosecutor Katiuska Plaza said there is sufficient evidence to believe Manuel Rosales is guilty of embezzlement that damaged “state patrimony.”Chavez’s critics call the illicit enrichment charges against Rosales a political witch-hunt meant to emasculate the opposition amid broader efforts to reduce the power of elected official opposed to the socialist leader.
Government supporters call it a simple corruption investigation and accuse Rosales of evading justice. Authorities say Rosales, mayor of the second city of Maracaibo who lost a 2006 presidential bid against Chavez, was unable to explain some $60,000 in income when he was governor of the oil-rich state of Zulia. Prosecutors have requested Rosales be detained and tried in jail. No date has been set for the start of the trial.
Last month, political allies of Rosales said he went into hiding, insisting he could not receive a fair trial under the Chavez government.
