“‘There is a moral imperative to look closely at this issue. The need in Venezuela is growing and the scale of the corruption is industrial,’ said Michael Camilleri, who is writing a report on the forfeiture funds for the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C., group that promotes democracy in Latin America.
“He estimated that more than $1 billion in looted money is currently held in the United States, either in frozen banks accounts or being held by in government forfeiture funds. As much as $24 billion may be held in accounts globally, mostly in Europe.
“‘Even if you could recover a small fraction of this money you would be looking at a far greater sum than the total humanitarian assistance that the international community has been able to muster up for Venezuela,’ Camilleri said…”