US offers $5 million reward for arrest of Venezuelan chief justice

The United States has announced a reward of $5 million for any information that can be used to arrest Venezuela's Supreme Court chief justice, triggering sharp reactions from the Latin American nation.

US Secretary of the State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said Supreme Court president Maikal Jose Moreno Perez "personally received money or property bribes to influence the outcome of civil and criminal cases in Venezuela" in recent years.

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"Moreno Perez received the bribes in exchange for judicial actions" in over 20 cases, Pompeo said, adding the move reaffirms "the US commitment to combating corruption and transnational organized crime in Venezuela."

After the annoucement, Venezuela hit out at the US, saying Washington "disrespects the Supreme Court of Justice, in the person of its president, Maikel Moreno, through false accusations and the offer of rewards in the style of the cowboys and the wild and far west."

Venezuela "rejects once again the illegal and coercive actions of the Donald Trump government against the Venezuelan people and its constitutional institutions," the statement by the foreign ministry said.

Perez has been on the US Treasury's sanctions blacklist since May 2017 and was included on Tuesday in the State Department's separate list along with his wife for "involvement in significant corruption".

Venezuela's Supreme Court has been considered close President Nicolas Maduro's government and in 2017 neutralized the nation's only opposition-controlled branch of government, the National Assembly.

Main opposition leader Juan Guaido, declared himself as the president of the country 18 months ago, a decision backed by the United States and over 50 countries.

The US has imposed a number of sanctions to oust Maduro as it along with a group of nations considers his re-election in 2018 fraudulent.