Why US parks Venezuelan oil money in a Qatar bank account

JUST when it seemed that the Venezuelan saga could not get more convoluted, there were revelations earlier this month that some of the revenue from the sale of that oil had found its way to an account in Qatar.

US officials were quoted as saying that the US had sold US$500 million of the South American country’s crude oil. The Trump administration then proceeded to deposit a chunk of the money in the Gulf state.

This decision was justified on the grounds that Qatar was a neutral location from which the funds could be freely and safely moved without risk of seizure.