Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday called on prosecutors to go after Lorenzo Mendoza, the country's wealthiest businessman, who had suggested that Venezuela's ailing economy might require an international bailout.

"Look what the long-haired aristocrat said, selling the country to the (International Monetary Fund). What is he thinking?" Maduro said on state television, according to Reuters. "It's a crime ... to speak on behalf of the fatherland, a serious crime contemplated in the judicial code. He should be prosecuted ... hope the judicial bodies react."

Mendoza, who heads Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest private company, has been overheard agreeing with U.S.-based Venezuelan economist Ricardo Hausmann that the country might need a package, from $40 billion to $50 billion, from the IMF and an "adjustment" plan. Their private conversation was broadcast by state media this week, the newswire noted.

Earlier this week, Mendoza alleged that the call had been illegally recorded, though he did not dispute its authenticity. The billionaire on Monday did not immediately react to Maduro's call for prosecution.

"With respect to the illegal recording and televised distribution of a private phone conversation I had with the economist Ricardo Hausmann ... I wholeheartedly reject the attempt to manipulate public opinion with the clear intention of using me in Venezuelan politics," the tycoon said in a statement, according to El Universal.

One of Venezuela's key opposition figures, meanwhile, said that Mendoza did not deserve prosecution, but should rather be praised for his determination to keep running his companies despite Venezuela's volatile and highly inflationary business environment, Dinero noted.

"Nicolás Maduro, instead of making fun of Lorenzo Mendoza, should thank [him] that he is still operating in this country," said Henrique Capriles Radonski, the governor of the key industrial state of Miranda, who had challenged the incumbent in the last presidential election

"There is no way to get ahead if there is no vigorous and determined private enterprise, and that is what Nicolás does not understand," Capriles said, adding that the president scared away potential foreign investors "every time he opens his mouth."