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Derwick Associates

Native name	Derwick Associates de Venezuela SA
Industry	Energy
Founded	April 7, 2003 (2003-04-07)
Founder	Leopoldo Betancourt López Pedro Trebbau López
Headquarters	Venezuela
Products	Electrical power Natural gas
Services	Engineering Power-plant construction
Website	derwickassociates.com

Derwick Associates is a firm a primarily Venezuelan company that “provides engineering, procurement and power-plant construction services". During an energy crisis in Venezuela in 2009-2010, Derwick won several contracts to construct and provide supplies for a number of power plants in that country and has been the subject of scrutiny.

Corporate history

Derwick is currently registered in Panama, Barbados, Venezuela, and Spain under slightly different names, and has also been registered in the U.S. In Panama, Derwick was registered on April 7, 2003. In Barbados, where it was registered on May 27, 2009, the company is identified as Derwick Associates Corporation. In Venezuela, where it was registered on October 28, 2009, it is called Derwick Associates de Venezuela SA. In Spain, where according to various accounts it was incorporated on either January 13 or January 25, 2011, it is called Derwick Associates International SRL. In the U.S., it was registered on December 2, 2010, under the name Derwick Associates USA LLC.

In a lawsuit filed in 2012, Derwick directors maintained that the firm was founded in 2007.

Directors

According to one report by César Batiz for Últimas Noticias in Venezuela, the following individuals are listed as directors of the firm: Pedro Trebbau López, Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López, Gonzalo X. Guzman López, Edgar Romero Lazo, and Iker Candida. A separate part of the same report by Últimas Noticias lists Domingo X. Guzman De Frutos López, not Gonzalo X. Guzman López, as a director of the Barbados firm. Betancourt, Trebbau, and Hernández are the officers of the United States-based firm.

Venezuelan power station scandal

The firm, which had not previously been a contractor for power plants, was awarded 12 contracts for such installations in Venezuela during a 2009-2010 energy crisis in that country. Four contracts were awarded by Electricidad de Caracas (which in December 2011 became part of Corpoelec), five by Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA, with the contract negotiated by Bariven, a division of PDVSA), and one by the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG).

Bariven awarded contracts in 2010 amounting to more than $760 million for power plants to Derwick and two other intermediaries. Of that sum, the contracts awarded to Derwick amounted to $209 million. The $760 million sum included surcharges of over $403 million, of which just under $87 million were surcharges paid to Derwick. There also appeared to be cases of multiple billing by Derwick for the same parts. Moreover, at the time of the contracts, Derwick, like the other two intermediaries, was not a legally recognized commercial representative of General Electric (GE), Rolls Royce, or Pratt & Whitney, the companies responsible for the actual manufacture of the plants that Derwick and the other intermediaries sold to Bariven.

In five of the contracts, Derwick was said to have failed to meet completion dates. In November 2011, it was reported that two of the plants that Derwick had supplied Corpolec with the parts to in a timely manner were not only uncompleted, but abandoned.

It was reported that Derwick also contracted to supply a power plant for Sidor, Venezuela's largest steel corporation, for over $700 million, which included a surcharge of $280 million. The report stated that the plant was supposed to begin operation in May 2010, construction had not yet gotten underway as of August 2012. It quoted technicians close to the project who said that it “consists of reconstructed turbines and used equipment.” The contents of the report were denied by Nelson Riviera and the contents of the disputing letter were published alongside the report.

A journalist working for Venezuela's Ultimas Noticias presented herself at Derwick's official address in Madrid, Spain in 201 and spoke over the intercom with a man who had a Venezuelan accent and who, in answer to her question, told her that the building was not the headquarters of Derwick but was his residence. According to prosecutors, former Venezuelan government minister Rodolfo Sanz, currently president of CVG, made a phone call from Derwick's office in the Pyramid Building in which he arranged a deposit of $500 million in the Gazprom Bank of Lebanon. In a later media account, however, Manuel Díaz recanted this allegation, refuting the charge.

In November 2011, Derwick was accused of not paying workers.

It was reported in August 2012 that Derwick Associates had paid $24 million for El Alamin, a 1,600-acre hunting estate in Toledo, Spain, for the personal use of Betancourt Lopez.

Donations

In January 2012, Derwick donated funds for the construction of a football field in Sucre.

Legal activity

César Batiz sued the Venezuelan Minister of Minerals and Petroleum in March 2012 for information about Derwick.

On September 13, 2012, Derwick Associates Corp. and its co-founders, Leopoldo Betancourt López and Pedro Trebbau López, filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, charging that it had suffered severe damage to its reputation as a result of actions by the Caracas-based bank Venezolano de Credito SA Banco Universal, by the bank's president and chairman, Oscar García Mendoza, and by Rafael Alfonzo Hernandez, a member of the bank's board. The suit, according to one account, “alleged defamation of Derwick, Betancourt and Trebbau; tortious interference with contract and with business relationships; deceptive and unfair trade practices; and civil conspiracy. The company is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions as well as monetary damages.”

The amount of damages specified in the lawsuit was $300 million. The premise of the lawsuit was that García Mendoza and Alfonzo Hernandez were connected with the anonymous Spanish-language website www.wikianticorrupcion.org, which had accused Derwick of criminal corruption. Betancourt López said: “This legal action is not against freedom of expression, but against the practice of anonymous defamation. We have been the object of a campaign based on absolutely false charges.” García Mendoza denied that he, the bank, or Alfonzo Hernandez had done any of the things they were charged with.

References

1. ^ César Batiz (September 26, 2011). "Compras con sobreprecio en la emergencia eléctrica". Ultimas Noticias. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
2. ^ "Ipys premia serie "Trampas Eléctricas" de ÚN". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
3. ^ César Batiz (September 18, 2011). "Bariven compró con sobreprecio". Soberania. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
4. César Batiz (September 27, 2011). "Bariven adquirió equipos eléctricos con $403,7 millones de sobreprecio". Soberania. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
5. ^ César Batiz (August 7, 2011). "Cable pelao en la electricidad". Soberania. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
6. ^ "Defamation Suit Seeks $300 Million in Damages From Venezuelan Bankers". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
7. "Con la verdad por delante". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
8. "Mesa de unidad exige investigar plan de inversiones electricas". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
9. "Plantas eléctricas en Sidor se encuentran abandonadas". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
10. ^ "Desmentido a la información de Reporte: Caso Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López //Los chavechicos…". Retrieved November 25, 2012. {{cite web}}: C1 control character in |title= at position 99 (help)
11. "Sindicalista Manuel Díaz: nunca dije que el ex ministro Sanz se apropió de esos fondos". Retrieved December 4, 2012.
12. "Obreros paralizan planta termoeléctrica en el Tuy". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
13. "Ocariz entrega quinta cancha de futbol de grama artificial en sucre". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
14. "El tribunal supremo de justicia". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
15. ^ "Derwick Associates demanda a Banco Venezolano de Crédito y a Oscar García Mendoza". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
16. "Demandan al Banco Venezolano de Crédito y a su presidente". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
17. "Oscar García Mendoza: "Tomaremos las acciones que sean necesarias"". Retrieved November 25, 2012.
18. "PERFIL: El banquero que no negocia con la revolución". Retrieved November 25, 2012.

• Companies of Venezuela
• Construction and civil engineering companies
• Companies established in 2003