El Universal

CARACAS, Friday, January 22, 2010 | Update 36'

AN investigate irregularities in granting Crystallex

The Committee on Energy and Mines of the NA will investigate the concession granted to the company Crystallex International Corporation, following a complaint by the second vice president of the National Assembly, Jose Albornoz,

The general secretary of Homeland for All highlighted irregularities in the agreement signed by the Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana. "In the final contract between the state and the company omitted certain clauses present at the beginning of the discussion. These clauses were referred to the necessary technical assistance to small miners and artisans, and resources that the company undertook to invest for the implementation of various infrastructure projects such as schools and outpatient facilities, "said Albornoz.

The legislator stressed that these clauses disappeared "from the overnight", adding that "there is a presumption that the company would have delivered the sum of 15 million dollars" to the CVG.

Albornoz also took the case of the Mayor of Sifontes, Bolivar, Charles Chancellor, the Domestic Policy Committee. Chancellor, a member of PPT, was sentenced to seven years in prison for promoting protests against Crystallex.

The senator criticized the "serious procedural delay" that suffered from the mayor, who spent four years detained without a final decision.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/01/22/pol_art_an-investigara-irreg_1732641.shtml