VENEZUELA PROBES ALLEGED FOREIGN EXCHANGE FRAUD
Banking authorities and police are
investigating an alleged fraud by the second largest trading
house in the Caracas free foreign exchange market, Finance
Minister Manuel Azpurua told reporters.
    The Superintendency of Banks and the Technical and Judicial
Police have both begun probes of Cambio la Guiara, Azpurua said
on Friday night.
    Police said the owners of the firm, Mario Muggia and his
brother Luigi Muggia, have left Venezuela.
    Cambio la Guiara operated in part on the "parallel market" in
which traders buy and sell dollars among themselves.
    The Venezuelan central bank on June 17 suspended the
licences of all 21 foreign exchange operators in the parallel
market, blaming their speculation for the constant rise in the
value of the U.S. Dollar here.
    Juan Domingo Cordero, vice-president of the Caracas Stock
Exchange and the owner of a foreign exchange trading house,
said on Friday he had begun legal action against Cambio la
Guiara for issuing him four checks without funds for a total
amount of almost one mln dlrs.
    The Cambio la Guiara exchange house had operated in
Venezuela for more than 20 years.
 REUTER
