The trial of a wealthy Venezuelan businessman accused of being an illegal agent for the socialist government of President Hugo Chávez is unfolding like a political `telenovela.'

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The prosecution's case against Duran, 40, includes highly sensitive allegations that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez oversaw the cover-up -- with input from Argentina -- and that Duran and a business partner had paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to Venezuelan officials in return for government contracts.

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Ultimately, observers say, the trial could diminish Chávez's stature in his own country, along with that of the intended recipient of his alleged campaign gift: Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Chávez's alleged gift, financed with national oil money, was designed to expand his leftist revolution, experts say.

Both politicians have called the U.S. case ``garbage.''