Venezuela slams U.S. court approval of Citgo parent sale as 'fraudulent'

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Saturday criticized a U.S. court ruling authorizing a sale of the shares in the parent company of U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp, calling it the result of a "fraudulent judicial process."

Citgo is a unit of Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. A federal court in Delaware this week approved the sale as a way for Canadian gold miner Crystallex to collect on a $1.4 billion judgment for the expropriation of its assets, though U.S. sanctions currently bar the transaction.