ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2020) A leaked memo allegedly proving a cash transfer from Venezuela to Italy's Five Star Movement (M5S) has a number of inconsistencies indicating that is likely to be a forgery, a national news agency has reported.
On Monday, Spanish daily ABC reported, citing what it says is a leaked Venezuelan intelligence memo, that the M5S received 3.5 million Euros ($3.9 million) in cash from the Bolivarian republic in 2010. The secret cash transfer via diplomatic mail was purportedly authorized by then-Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, who is currently the Venezuelan president.
Italy's Agenzia Nova looked into the scanned memo in question on Monday and found a number of inconsistencies in it. The document is addressed to the intelligence service of the Defense Ministry, but the latter's official name lacks the term "of people's power," a mandatory element in Venezuela's official documents since 2007.
The seal on the document looks like a flipped national emblem of Venezuela, with the horse depicted on it running not from right to left, but vice versa.
In addition, journalists point to a certain editing of the date of the document and express doubt concerning the authenticity of the signature and seal put on the memo in question.
Both Caracas and the Italian party, a part of Italy's ruling coalition, have firmly rejected the Spanish newspaper's allegations. Venezuelan authorities have pledged to sue the publication. M5S has not ruled out a legal case either, saying that the claims clearly aim to discredit the party.
