Venezuela Public Ministry Summons Jesús María Casal for Opposition Primaries Fraud Investigation

Venezuela’s Public Ministry (MP) issued a summons to the president of the National Primary Commission (CNP), Jesús María Casal, for an investigation of fraud in the opposition primaries held last Sunday.

Through his social media accounts, Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced this Friday, October 27, that in addition to Casal, Mildred Camero and Roberto Abdul-Hadi Casanova were also summoned. They must appear at MP headquarters on Monday, October 30, as people of interest.

#AHORA en atención a la denuncia realizada ante el @MinPúblicoVEN se emite las respectivas citaciones a los ciudadanos Jesús Maria Casal, Mildred Camero y Roberto Abdul-Hadi Casanova para que acudan a la Sede Principal del Ministerio Público el día Lunes 30/10/23, en calidad de… pic.twitter.com/2zxBYLOQFD

— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) October 27, 2023

Saab recalled that the 73rd national prosecutors against organized crime and the 8th national prosecutor with jurisdiction over crimes associated with the administrative service for identification, migration, and immigration (SAIME) were appointed, “to carry out the already public investigation.”

“We must again remember that article 293 of the Constitution of the Republic, in section 6 establishes that the National Electoral Council is the body in charge of ‘Organizing the elections of unions, professional unions, and organizations with political purposes…,” he quoted on his post.

Last Wednesday, Saab explained that the beginning of the investigation was carried out in response to the complaints presented by the opposition deputy José Brito and the member of the opposition’s Primary Technical Commission, Nelson Rampersad, who publicly pointed out that the figures offered by the organizers of this event were “made up and puffy,” and might have involved usurpation of identity of citizens that actually did not participated in the electoral contest.