Opposition leader Juan Guaido (L) is locked in a battle with President
Nicolas Maduro (R) for control of Venezuela (AFP Photo/Federico Parra
, Leo RAMIREZ)
Caracas
(AFP) - Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that executives
appointed to boards affiliated with state oil firm PDVSA -- in a bid for
control by opposition leader Juan Guaido -- face criminal prosecution.
The
court -- packed with Maduro loyalists -- ordered legal action against
15 executives that the National Assembly, headed by Guaido, named on
Wednesday to form four new executive boards for PDVSA and its US-based
affiliate Citgo.
Guaido
-- who has been recognized as acting president by more than 50
countries -- is locked in a battle with Maduro for control of the
crisis-hit country.
Guaido
celebrated the appointments as a "step forward in the reconstruction of
PDVSA," but Maduro had warned that those accepting "illegal"
appointments would face justice.
The
high court ruled that the executives were named by a legislature whose
decisions are "null," and that the appointees should face prosecution
for crimes including "usurpation," "corruption," "organized crime" and
"terrorism."
The
Supreme Court decision set in motion the process of extraditing the
accused, most of whom are in the United States, and freezing their
accounts.
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