VENEZUELA PROBES ALLEGED FOREIGN EXCHANGE FRAUD Banking authorities and police are investigating an alleged fraud by the second largest trading house in the Caracas free foreign exchange market, Finance Minister Manuel Azpurua told reporters. The Superintendency of Banks and the Technical and Judicial Police have both begun probes of Cambio la Guiara, Azpurua said on Friday night. Police said the owners of the firm, Mario Muggia and his brother Luigi Muggia, have left Venezuela. Cambio la Guiara operated in part on the "parallel market" in which traders buy and sell dollars among themselves. The Venezuelan central bank on June 17 suspended the licences of all 21 foreign exchange operators in the parallel market, blaming their speculation for the constant rise in the value of the U.S. Dollar here. Juan Domingo Cordero, vice-president of the Caracas Stock Exchange and the owner of a foreign exchange trading house, said on Friday he had begun legal action against Cambio la Guiara for issuing him four checks without funds for a total amount of almost one mln dlrs. The Cambio la Guiara exchange house had operated in Venezuela for more than 20 years.