Venezuela orders brokerages searched in bank probe

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan criminal court on Tuesday ordered the search of three brokerages in a probe of banks recently shuttered by the government for irregularities, the official news agency ABN said.

It quoted Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega as saying the court ordered the raid of brokerages Interbursa, Equivalores and Interacciones. ABN said the brokerages were linked to recently shuttered private banks Baninvest, Banco Real and Central Banco Universal.

The government of socialist President Hugo Chavez says it shut those three banks on December 4 to safeguard savers' deposits.

On November 30, it shut four other banks -- Banco Canarias, Banco Confederado, Bolivar Banco, and Banpro -- for concerns including unexplained capital increases and worries about their solvency.

A half-dozen brokerages have been ordered searched this month in probes related to those seven banks shuttered, according to the prosecutor's office.

Last Friday, the government closed another bank, Banorte, saying its lack of liquidity did not allow it to cover its short-term obligations, the banking superintendency said.

The eight banks shut since November 30 account for less than one-tenth of Venezuela's total deposits.

(Reporting by Walker Simon; Editing by Gary Hill)