CITGO should be investigated for corruption at the top

Mr. Granado with his buddy, Joe Kennedy, the "samaritan" who gives CITGO's fuel oil to the U.S. poor, a program designed to gain followers for Hugo Chavez.

The outgoing president of CITGO, Mr. Alejandro Granado, was involved in activities while in his job that deserve to be investigated. His role in the contracts for phone cards issued by the company to clients, a program that started in 2008 at his suggestion and continued for several years, is a good example of these activities. This program was described as follows:

“HOUSTON, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- With the holidays approaching, now is the perfect time to pick up the phone and reconnect with family, friends and loved-ones all around the world. That is why CITGO Petroleum is putting families first by offering motorists in New York a $3 phone card with the purchase of 10 gallons of fuel. The program will run from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 and cards can be used on calls to neighbors around the corner, or friends and family overseas”

The program itself was not objectionable. What seemed irregular was the manner of contracting for the cards. The contract was no-bid, assigned to a company called Poplar Telecommunications. Mr. Eddy Gorrin, an executive officer (Operations Manager) with this company, said:

"We are proud to continue our relationship with CITGO and provide phone cards," said Eddy Gorrin.

Dick Spiegel, president of CITGO marketer, SOS Fuels, added: “ In working with CITGO we have been able to provide more than 14 million phone calls since May 2008 and help people reach out to friends and family in more than 50 different countries….. With the hectic lives that people live these days, it can be so easy to lose touch with the people that matter the most… By providing phone cards to motorists across the New York metro area, CITGO Petroleum and its network of locally owned CITGO stations are helping to bring families and friends closer together, no matter how many miles separate them."

Who is Eddy Gorrin? In the web he appears as:

Eddy Gorrin: CITGO PETROLEUM, Light Oils Marketing.  Miami/Fort Lauderdale Area | Oil & Energy.

Was he simultaneously an employee of CITGO and a contractor for CITGO? Or one business connection came after the other?

In a CITGO brochure Mr. Gorrin appears identified as:

SOUTHERN REGION CONTACTS

Eddie Gorrin

Region Sales Representative

305-793-1807egorrin@citgo.com

 

Regarding Mr. Gorrin, CITGO did not appear to be very particular as to whom they dealt with. We read in a newspaper report:

 “Guilty plea filed in counterfeit Procrit investigation”

Reuters Health: June 12, 2003; by Alicia Ault

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Three Miami area men pled guilty Wednesday to the illegal sale and distribution of a counterfeit version of Amgen Inc.'s anemia drug epoetin alfa (Procrit).

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Office of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Miami-Dade Police Department.

All the agencies took part in an investigation that led to the guilty pleas by the three defendants: Eddy Gorrin, William Chavez and Duviel Gonzalez. They will be sentenced in late August and face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine”.

Mr. Gorrin was one of the three men indicted for distributing counterfeit medical supplies. And later, he became employed and/or associated with CITGO.

So far we are talking about poor industrial relations management on the part of CITGO, nothing else. But the issue becomes more complex as we find out that the principal listed by POPLAR Telecommunications is Ms. Nora Delgado:

Poplar Telecom Group LLC

Principal

Delgado, Nora

17885 Collins Ave #2301

Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160

 

 

 Ms. Delgado and Mr. Eddy Gorrin were involved in this contract with CITGO. And who is Ms. Nora Delgado? She is the sister-in-law of Mr. Alejandro Granado, the president of CITGO. I believe this is highly irregular, as the contract was given without a bid to a close relative of the president of CITGO. It must have been a very profitable contract because Ms. Delgado acquired  a $1.9 million  condo in Florida,  2006, a follows:

Filed under: Computing, Sunny Isles Beach, Eddy Gorrin, Computing, Sunny Isles Beach, Eddy Gorrin

Address: 17885 Collins Avenue, Unit: 2301
Buyer(s): Loren Z Loverde and Nora E Delgado

Seller(s): Williams Isl Ocn Clu Inc

Sale date: Apr. 18, 2006

In 2012 this condo was put on the market, see below:

 Block Shopper News Service, published Feb. 8, 2012  

Loren Z. Loverde has listed for sale a four-bedroom, four-bath condo at 17875 Collins Ave. in Sunny Isles Beach for $2.9 million. Loverde and Nora E. Delgaldo paid $1.8 million for the property in April 2006. The 2,736-square-foot Unit 2301 is one of the 188 units in the Acqualina condo development, which was built in 2006. It is part of the Seaside Sunny Isles Beach subdivision. Eddy Gorrin of Global Investments Realty is the listing agent for the property.

Note that the ubiquitous Mr. Gorrin is listed as the agent for the property.

In 2011 I wrote an article mentioning the phone card affair and other irregular situations in CITGO but, to my knowledge, no action has ever been taken, see:

 http://www.analitica.com/va/economia/opinion/6580550.asp. I said (my translation):

“The first transaction with positive results for Granado’s personal finances was the acquisition without a bid of a system for the administration of CITGO’s Lubricants Laboratory, from a company represented by Mrs. Rosana Delgado de Granado, Mr. Granado's  wife, and by Ms. Nora Delgado, his sister in law. The second, more profitable, commercial operation for the Granado's finances was the program of phone cards… that Granados ordered CITGO to start in 2008….”.

The business association of Mr. Granado with his wife and sister in law is (or was) through
Millennium Global Advisors, LLC, filed 02-09-2009, file # L09000013171. This company lists as principals Mr. Granado, his wife, his sister in law and Mr. Loren Loverde. At this time Mr. Granado was president of CITGO.

Why do I insist on this?

I do not know Mr. Granado or his sister in law. I hold no personal animosity against him/her. I am concerned about corruption, especially in the oil industry where I worked for many years. I would like to see clean management in this industry but everywhere I turn I see much corruption allowed or even committed by the top officers of Petroleos de Venezuela and affiliates.  During the last 10 years I have denounced several cases of corruption in the Venezuelan oil industry, without any results. When the authorities that should act  do not act they become guilty by association. This is the case with the Venezuelan Attorney General, with the General Comptroller, with the Ombudsman, with the National Assembly and with the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, all controlled politically by the Executive power. These institutions have been run by crooks for the last 15 years. The Venezuelan political regime has created a new code of “ethics” that allows them to do whatever they please with the national assets. Never before in history has the country suffered such intense government corruption.

This assertion is not unfounded. It can be amply documented. When the time comes, I will be helping to do this.