A US judge on Monday rejected seven of the eight charges of money laundering against Colombian Alex Saab, considered a figurehead of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, due to guarantees given to Cape Verde during the extradition process. defendant.
The 49-year-old businessman and his partner Álvaro Pulido, whose whereabouts are unknown, are accused in the United States of running a chain that ran a food distribution program in Venezuela.
They are suspected of transferring about US$ 350 million (R$ 1.9 billion) to accounts they controlled in the US territory and in other countries. Accused of money laundering in Miami in 2019, Saab was arrested in June of last year in Cape Verde, during a flight stopover.
Now, since October 18, shortly after being extradited at the request of the US, he has been on trial in the American city. Thus, in one of the stages of the process, the Court failed to charge him with seven charges and maintained only one, that of conspiracy to launder money, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The decision comes because, on September 7, 2020, during the extradition process, the US gave Cape Verde guarantees that it “would not prosecute or punish accused Alex Nain Saab on more than one charge”, thus complying with a Cape Verdean law. -Verdean regarding the maximum penalty of detention, as explained by the Public Ministry in the request sent to Judge Robert Scola, who signed the order.
Also according to the Public Ministry, the decision to reject the seven charges affects Saab, not Pulido.
The ally’s extradition infuriated Maduro, who gave the Colombian Venezuelan nationality and an ambassador’s title and fought unsuccessfully to prevent his transfer to the United States.
In a statement, the Caribbean country’s dictator denounced what he called the “kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab by the US government in complicity with Cape Verdean authorities,” and the businessman’s lawyers say the American allegations are politically motivated.
According to analysts, the biggest fear of the Chavez regime is that Saab will give information to the court about money routes and bribery schemes. The government tried to release the businessman several times, claiming that the Colombian was being ill-treated and tortured in prison.
Son of a Lebanese businessman living in Barranquilla, Colombia, Saab started working as a salesman of promotional keyrings before entering the textile sector, where he had 100 warehouses that exported to more than ten countries, according to official biographies.
The first contract he signed in Venezuela was in 2011, at the presidential palace in Miraflores. At the time, Maduro was the chancellor of President Hugo Chávez, and a young Saab forged what was called a strategic alliance for the constitution and installation of kits for the construction of prefabricated houses. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos attended the event.
It was with Maduro’s arrival at the country’s leadership that Saab almost immediately became the consenting contractor and then its plenipotentiary minister behind the scenes, according to journalists.
Later, the businessman won a contract for the construction of gyms worth $100 million, paid in advance, and an oil contract with an inexperienced ghost company, which ended up falling after complaints from other companies in the sector.
In 2016, Maduro created the Local Supply and Production Committees, a subsidized food distribution plan, at a time of shortages of more than two-thirds of basic products. Saab then became one of the suppliers, reaching important commercial agreements.
Former Venezuela’s Attorney General Luisa Ortega called Saab the “main frontman of the autocracy” of Maduro and his family and said his extradition “is an achievement for those of us who seek justice against those responsible for the tragedy. and the chaos that Venezuelans live”.
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