March 2011 Arthur

On hand were travel checks and a credit card with a debit card, both from Citibank. But in these cases, nothing can be done; taxi drivers and other travel checks will not be accepted. Well, ATMs will write off for withdrawn tugriks, sorry, bolivars at the unrealistic rate of $1 = 4.3 bolivars. I took off 650 of these same ones, and they charged me 153 pale green ones for this. So, these 153 greens were enough for me for a day. This is 340 bolivars 3* hotel La Parada - single for one night (room only) plus transfer from/to the airport; 110 for dinner and lunch the next day, 190 airport Departure tax, and 7-8 for a pack of cookies and yogurt for breakfast, because La Parada did not offer that. But - unlimited tea/coffee around the clock, free internet. The hotel itself is clean and comfortable. If I got at least 8 bolivariks for a dollar, I would say that the price is very good, but just call me, I can’t...

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Exchange Oddities

11-12.2007 Fedor

Officially, the dollar is exchanged only at the local equivalent of Sberbank. As of December 2007, they gave about 2,300 bolivars per dollar. On the black market, they initially exchanged for 6,300; after the elections on December 2, the rate dropped to 5,700 per dollar, but the difference is still noticeable. It is better to change through friends, if you have any, or at worst through taxi drivers, waiters, etc. The rate is naturally lower, but still more profitable.

There were simply no ATMs there, and it was awkward to withdraw anything - again, because of the exchange rate.

Many restaurants have one “wonderful” mule - you look at the menu, the prices seem reasonable. You order, eat, they bring the bill - and there is 20% more: 11% of one tax and 9% of another. You need to carefully check whether menu prices include this tax.

Plus, in many restaurants and stores they may force you to write all the information about yourself on the receipt - who you are from, where you live, where you live, phone number, etc., and without this they will not return your purchase or change. Hello Chavez, it was terribly annoying. But this is mainly in Caracas; in other cities everything is much simpler and calmer.

Money

07/09/06 - to today Konstantin

The circulation of the dollar in Venezuela is prohibited. Currency can only be changed at official points such as Italkambio.

There is an unofficial rate, and today it is 3,700 bolivars per 1,000 dollars. Exchange at such a rate is associated with many risks, but people still exchange at the specified rate. You cannot send money (neither dollars nor bolivars) from the country to Russia. Western Union does not work with Russia. Traveler's checks cannot be obtained when leaving Venezuela.

When leaving the country, if there is local currency left, you can only exchange it at the black rate, which, as I said above, is very extortionate.

Billions of Venezuelan currency, bolivars, are imported into Russia. According to Republic, the money was received by the companies for work in Venezuela. At the same time, the bolivar in Russia is a non-convertible currency. What can be done with these billions? Alexey Sokolov found out.

Venezuela for Russia has long become an analogue of Cuba for the Soviet Union. But friendship with the republic turned out to be an unexpected side for Russian companies. The point is the currency - bolivars: the country is in a deep crisis, the exchange rate is rapidly falling, in three years local money has depreciated 50 times. The currency, which was quickly losing any value, was imported into Russia by companies working with Venezuela. Dollars for payments under contracts in the country simply ran out, and then they had to pay in local currency. Despite the fact that the export of this currency from the country is illegal, money still crossed borders, not only in suitcases, but also almost in sea containers. The companies hoped to somehow cash out the banknotes in Moscow, Irina Rys, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Lanta Bank, told Kommersant FM.

“Our clients have received requests to exchange cash bolivars for any type of currency, more or less acceptable: dollars, euros, rubles, at least for something. But we couldn't help them. “I know that some of our colleagues from other banks did change the Venezuelan currency,” she said. “There are possible options for exchanging bolivars for another currency from the category of “soft” and subsequently, after two or three operations, entering some kind of freely convertible currency with significant losses.”

But there are also those who buy the bolivar. According to media reports, Rosneft buys currency in Russia for payments in Venezuela: it costs the company much less than exchanging money in the country itself. The press secretary of the company, Mikhail Leontyev, was reached by journalists from the publication Republic. When asked about bolivars, he answered with a laconic phrase: “None of your damn business.”

Most often, buyers or sellers of bolivars in Moscow turn out to be scammers, said Alexander Butmanov, managing partner of Dream Team Investments.

“The Venezuelan bolivar has at least three courses: “white”, “gray” and “black”. The real market rate is the “black” rate. But the bolivar has another, fourth, market - completely “black-black”. They are trying to give the so-called Bolivarian currency there, because half of it is counterfeit. I would warn against exchange transactions: this is being inflated so that there is an information background, and people buy this currency at least at some supposedly favorable rate. These rumors appear on the market, and people offer incomprehensible securities denominated in bolivars, and the bolivars themselves. It is not recommended to touch this,” he warned.

The fraud scheme is not new. The calculation is that a simple-minded businessman wants to make money on a rapidly collapsing currency or at least somehow sell it. The attackers offer an incredibly favorable exchange rate and ask for a significant advance payment as security for the transaction or, for example, to pay the cost of legal translation of the contract. After receiving the money, the scammers disappear. The most realistic ad I came across: a resident of St. Petersburg was wondering where he could buy this “waste paper” to use banknotes instead of poker chips.

With the official exchange rate of 10 bolivars per dollar, they are exchanged on the black market at a ratio of almost 4,000:1. Often this is the only way to somehow change Venezuelan money.

Billions of cash bolivars - the national currency of Venezuela - have been exported by Russian companies cooperating with this country over the past three years. Venezuela is currently experiencing a severe financial crisis; the country has begun issuing new high-denomination banknotes, and now these piles of imported money are hardly worth anything.

It is difficult to say what forced Russian companies to export cash bolivars, especially since Venezuelan laws prohibit this. However, they often entered into contracts under which they received local currency for their services, which was impossible to convert into dollars or other stable currency. Apparently, this forced them to export cash bolivars in the hope that someday they could be somehow sold. As a result, a black market for Venezuelan bolivars has formed in Russia, where the unwanted currency is sold in batches of a billion, writes Republic.

At the official rate, one dollar is equal to 10 bolivars, but those who are willing to sell dollars demand 3,750 bolivars for each. As for banks, they do not exchange at the official rate.

But in Russia on the Internet you can find many offers to exchange millions of bolivars for rubles. They ask for 6 rubles per bolivar, but if they manage to sell for 2 rubles, they consider it a great success.

The website FORUM.CASH warns that in Russia there is some fraudulent activity in offering bolivars in large quantities at a certain discount from the official exchange rate. “The main point of such fraud is that the money exchange rate in Venezuela differs hundreds of times from the official one,” the authors of the site note.

But, as researchers write, billions of cash bolivars are “wandering” across Russia. Many companies are named among the owners of large sums in this currency, including KamAZ and Rosneft. Meduza, which tried to clarify the situation with Rosneft press secretary Mikhail Leontyev, heard in response: “It’s none of your business.”

The Venezuelan authorities themselves claim that a total of 300 billion cash bolivars were illegally exported from the country, which were then found in the United States, Switzerland, Poland, Ukraine and other countries.

Today the bolivar is one of the most unstable currencies in the world. In three years it has depreciated 50 times. Last year alone, inflation in Venezuela amounted to 720%, and the country's GDP fell by 10%.

Most recently, the head of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro, dismissed the head of the country’s central bank, blaming him for all the financial troubles. Reuters, which obtained access to the preliminary annual report of the Venezuelan Central Bank, reported that in 2016 the inflation rate in the country reached 800%.

Last year, the country's government had to agree to issue new high-denomination banknotes. The old money, where the largest bill was 100 bolivars, was no longer able to handle circulation. It got to the point where the money was not counted, but weighed. Now the largest denomination will be 20,000 bolivars.

But even this money outside the country turns into paper. After all, Hugo Chavez’s decree, which introduced total currency control, is still in effect. Since then, it has been impossible to legally change bolivars outside of Venezuela.

Who wants bolivars - new, in bank packaging? A “black” market for Venezuelan currency has formed in Russia, Republic reported. Now in Runet you can find a lot of advertisements for the sale and purchase of bolivars

There may now be billions of bolivars in Russia. They were brought here, as Republic found out, by Russian state-owned companies that operate in Venezuela. First of all, we are talking about oil workers, about Rosneft. But the publication also mentions KamAZ, which supplied trucks there.

According to journalists, the cache was transported by plane and sea containers. Then the cash ended up in the hands of resellers who are now trying to sell it. The course depends on your luck. Some people sell for a few rubles per bolivar, others give it away for a few kopecks. Business FM called on one of the advertisements. A man answered the phone and introduced himself as Nikolai.

- I don’t understand anything - who sells for how much, who buys for how much, to be honest.

— How much are you still leaning towards?

- Well, how much volume do you need?

- I probably have a million. Do you have that much?

- Million. There are, of course, more. Well, I don’t know, if you took it, even tomorrow I would give you 10 kopecks with pleasure. They are packaged, even in bank packaging. All banknotes are in good condition, 2015.

Venezuela has currency controls, so bolivars can only be circulated in the home country. On the other hand, the legislation of other countries does not prohibit trading in this currency.

In Venezuela there is an official exchange rate: the bolivar costs 10 cents. Accordingly, in Russian currency - approximately six rubles per bolivar. True, there is also an unofficial exchange rate in Venezuela - several thousand bolivars per dollar. All this leaves ample opportunity for course interpretation and speculation. You can make a successful purchase and sale transaction by converting bolivars into Russian or American currency.

General Director of the investment company "VOLGA Capital"“I think there is speculative interest for a narrow circle. I had several such proposals. Indeed, there is a potential opportunity to make money on this, since the chain “bolivar-ruble”, “ruble-dollar”, “dollar-bolivar” works, and several such currency pairs can be created, they work well inside Russia. It’s simply technically more convenient to do this here than in the USA, for example, because no one will allow trading the bolivar here in such volumes.”

If it is true that Russian state-owned companies took cash out of Venezuela, then they can be understood. You can’t buy much with the bolivars you earn there; there is hyperinflation in the country; over the past three years, the national currency has fallen in price by 50 times. And even while these banknotes were flying and sailing to Russia, their value was melting. It was also impossible to exchange for dollars, because there is a tension with dollars in Venezuela.

And in Russia the bolivar is a ghost currency. On the one hand, it seems to be non-existent, because outside of Venezuela it is worth nothing. On the other hand, it still exists. Advertisements for sale are accompanied by photographs: suitcases of money and even wardrobes. A horse can't bear that many bolivars.

When Russian athletes fought their way to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, four Muscovites were released from a Brazilian prison on large bail. They spent a month in custody. Local police suspect them of financial fraud. Brazilian authorities have launched an investigation after the third group of Russians this year was detained with millions of Venezuelan bolivars. Lenta.ru learned about the adventures of Muscovites in a country where there are many more than just monkeys.

On June 22, two Russian citizens, Lyubov Kazarinova and Artur Sharov, were arrested in the city of Manaus, Amazonia, Brazil. On July 1, their friends Artemy Semenovsky and Mikhail Bilko were also taken into custody. All were released on August 3 on bail of 3.5 thousand euros each. Now the Russians are in a local hotel awaiting trial.

He reported the details on his page on Facebook Artemy Semenovsky immediately after leaving prison.

“Early in the morning, seven hours before my plane, while I was still sleeping, a heavily armed special police unit burst into my room. They put me on the floor, handcuffed me, searched me, took away everything valuable and took me for interrogation. A day in solitary confinement, then two days in a reception center and more than a month in prison. No charges have been brought, no violations of the law have been found, so after posting bail (3,500 EUR for each), they are going to keep me and three of my comrades in Brazil under a subscription for about a year, or even several years or for the rest of our lives (what if we confess to something) - The term of restriction of freedom for innocent people is not limited here. The official reason is that we had $14,000 (my friend’s) declared in foreign currency in our room, which allows us to be suspected of belonging to an international cartel for laundering criminal money. The position of the consul is that human rights end where Brazilian law begins, get ready to sit for several years in the status of innocent people - this is normal, this is Brazil, Russia will not interfere.”

“It’s better there, but it’s also not sugar”

In an interview with Lenta.ru, Artemy Semenovsky spoke about prison conditions: “First, a day in solitary confinement, stripped down to his underpants, without bed linen, on a mattress black with dirt. Then two days in the reception center, where there are 100 people in a cell and you have to sleep on a cement floor. Then the IPART-MANAUS prison. There are seven people there (me and Misha and five criminals) on nine square meters. It's better there, but it's also not sugar. They didn’t take me for walks, they only called me once a month.”

According to him, during the arrests, all possible rights were violated: denial of the right to call, to a lawyer, to an interpreter, refusal to call the consul of the Russian Federation, and the rights were not read out.

“They hid from the consul for two weeks which prison Arthur and Lyuba were in, until Lyuba (like Misha) went on a hunger strike,” says Artemy.

The suspects are now living at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Manaus. Accommodation is paid for a couple of months in advance.

The Russians hired two local lawyers, whose services cost, according to Semenovsky, five to seven thousand dollars. “They don’t want to work anymore. There is a free lawyer from the Brazilian state,” he explains. The next court hearing will take place only in six months.

Money is like paper

According to Artemy's story, his friends Arthur and Lyuba were detained by the police at the airport upon departure from Manaus to Sao Paulo. They had Venezuelan bolivars with them.

He claims that the money found in his room belongs to Arthur. Semenovsky himself, according to him, came to Brazil only for tourism purposes. He has his own business in Moscow, he is the owner of the Vista Trade company, which employs 50 people.

“The cash was accumulated by Artur Sharov in Brazil for only one purpose - to open an export-import company on the border of Venezuela and Brazil. Due to the crime situation in Venezuela, the cash was transported to Brazil,” Semenovsky explains to Lente.ru.

Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

The police suspect three Russians and a Ukrainian citizen (Mikhail Bilko) of laundering criminal money, illegal financial transactions and involvement in a criminal group. This is stated in police and court records obtained by .

From these documents it follows that during a search in the hotel of Artemy Semenovsky and his friend Mikhail Bilko, 14 million Venezuelan bolivars (about $1.4 million at the official rate) of unclear, possibly illegal origin, as well as electronic devices, mobile phones and means for money sorting - paper tape, glue.

“The detainees said that a certain Arthur asked them to deliver money from Venezuela to Russia,” the protocol says. You cannot import more than 10 thousand Brazilian reals into Brazil without a declaration - about $3,125 at the exchange rate as of August 8.

“This money has been accumulating for the business for six months. The interval between declarations is six months. All money was exchanged in Venezuela at the commercial bank rate for tourists. There was an official declaration for all currency. The laws of the country were not violated,” Semenovsky explained to Lente.ru. According to him, there are no restrictions on the transportation of money, subject to their declaration, by Brazilian law.