International
The laundering of 120 million from the sale of weapons to Obiang, close to an agreed sentence
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office negotiates with the Russian businessman settled in Gran Canaria Vladimir Kokorev a conviction of conformity for the laundering of the undeclared 120 million euros that he claims he earned between 1999 and 2014, a profit that he attributes to the illegal sale of weapons to the regime of Teodoro Obiang in Equatorial Guinea.
On Monday, the sixth section of the Las Palmas Court plans to hold a first hearing on the so-called ‘Kokorev case’ after having rejected the request of the defenses to cede this file to the National Court, which already accumulates 16 years of history.
It is the Prosecutor’s Office itself that has announced that the hearing of May 19 is convened only “for compliance purposes,” because it is negotiating with the defenses an agreed conviction whose terms it assures that it will reveal that same day, if the defendants accept them.
Until now, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had been requesting eight years in prison and a fine of 240 million euros for Vladimir Kokorev, whom he accuses of having laundered millionaire profits allegedly obtained from selling military equipment to Equatorial Guinea at prices that included “notorious cost overres”.
His wife, Yulia Maleeva, and his son Igor Kokorev face the same facts, for whom he demands six years in prison and a fine of 150 million.
The charges on which the Spanish Justice can demand responsibility from the Kokorev are limited to the crime of money laundering by the conditions that Panama put in 2015 to extradite them, when they were arrested in that country.
In an indictment to which EFE has had access, the Prosecutor’s Office describes Vladimir Kokorev as the “head of a transnational criminal organization” dedicated to the “corrupt trade in military defense equipment and dual use”.
Anti-corruption assures that the Kokorevs managed to generate “an illicit million wealth of at least 120 million euros, in the period between 1999 and 2014”, supplying “weapons of war” to the Government of Teodoro Obiang, at a time when Equatorial Guinea was forming its naval forces.
Through the accounts of its corporate network, he continues, they reached a circulation of 678.92 million euros from 59 transfers made by the Public Treasury of Equatorial Guinea and a company called Abayak SA.
The prosecutor even details in his letter that Vladimir Kokorev has links with the criminal organization of “a citizen of the Russian Federation convicted of illegal trafficking and smuggling weapons for carrying out the sale to China and Iran of cruise missiles with nuclear loading capacity.”
“That activity (with Equatorial Guinea), never declared and always hidden,” says the Prosecutor’s Office, was carried out through two Panamanian companies (Kalunga Company SA and Intracoastal Trading) and another of the Scheychelles Islands (SJ Marine Company Ltd.)”, which gave “coverage” to the “multiple contracts” concluded by Vladimir Kokorev.
“All made with notorious overcost and overbilling imputed to the Public Treasury of Malabo, for the sale of military weapons, war and naval infrastructure, sold in collusion with officials and senior military dignitaries to the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea,” he continues.
Anti-corruption also formulates the same charges against a lawyer from Gran Canaria who allegedly collaborated in money laundering, Juan José Arencibia, and two sisters of this one, for whom he asks for sentences of five years in prison and fines of 100, ten and seven million euros.
In the order that ended the investigation in May 2021, Court number 5 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria estimated at 450 million euros the income that the Kokorev would have obtained from selling to Equatorial Guinea “ships, combat helicopters, armored vehicles, military corvettes, patrol boats, frigates, fighter jets, bombers and dual-use military weapons.”
For the investigator, there were indications to take the case of the judgment that the Kokorev and their collaborators earned 100 million “inflating the costs” of that material, with the collaboration of two advisors and three relatives of Obiang in charge of the Armed Forces or the Guinean Government (a son-in-law, a cousin and a nephew), of which she said in that order that they received commissions from the defendants.
To date, businessman Vladimir Kokorev has always denied that neither he, nor his wife Yulia Maleeva, nor his son Igor Kokorev have bribed or paid commissions to relatives and advisors of the president of Equatorial Guinea to facilitate the sale of weapons to that country.
The family assures that trade relations with Equatorial Guinea were established by Vladimir Kokorev, without the participation of his wife or son; they were not illegal and consisted of the supply of “ships for the transport of goods and people, as well as helicopters, patrol boats and other goods.”
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
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