Álex Saab, Venezuela’s Keeper of Financial Secrets, Approved For Extradition to US
A court in Cabo Verde has approved the extradition to the
United States of Colombian businessman Álex Saab, who may hold key information
on alleged money laundering schemes involving Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro and other top officials.
Judges for the West African nation’s Constitutional Court
issued the nearly 200-page ruling on September 7, according to court documents
published by Infobae.
Saab’s attorneys have been fighting the extradition since
his arrest in June 2020 when his private jet landed on the Cabo Verde island of
Sal. Venezuela’s government and President Maduro also have long protested his
detention and possible extradition on US charges of running a multi-million
dollar money-laundering network.
The tug-of-war over Saab has played out in Cabo Verde’s
courts for more than a year. His defense team, led by former Spanish judge
Baltasar Garzón, has argued that the Colombian businessman was on a
humanitarian mission to Iran as a special envoy of Maduro and this conferred
Saab with diplomatic immunity, Reuters reported. The government said Saab was
en route to buy food and medical supplies for the coronavirus pandemic upon his
arrest.
His lawyers have also appealed to outside bodies, including
the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which asked in June that Saab’s
extradition be halted to allow it to examine his case. But Cabo Verde’s
Attorney General Luis José Tavares Landim said that the UN committee had no
authority to force the suspension of court proceedings.
More recently, in mid-August, Saab’s attorneys submitted a
complaint against the attorney general and Cabo Verde’s appeals court judges,
alleging they violated Saab’s rights.
Several days ago, Saab was transferred to Cabo Verde’s
capital of Praia to receive medical attention, according to sources who spoke
to Spanish-language news agency EFE.
Saab is suffering from cancer, diabetes, hypertension and
heart problems, and his “health has deteriorated significantly,” said the
sources, who spoke anonymously.
The United States government may seek a cooperation
agreement with Saab – a move the Venezuelan government likely wants to avoid at
all costs.
In a January 21 filing to the US court in charge of the
case, his lawyers included a letter sent to Saab by Venezuelan Foreign Minister
Jorge Arreaza. The July 1 letter addresses Saab’s detention, telling him that
as the Special Representative of the Bolivarian Republic he has classified
information about “national security and defense.” It also warns him that he
could face criminal proceedings for divulging information.
“You are subject to Venezuelan law and have a duty to
maintain strict confidentiality with respect to the classified information you
possess,” Arreaza wrote.
The letter is part of a series of filings by Saab’s lawyers
to have his 2019 indictment on money laundering charges dismissed.
That indictment accuses Saab of being part of a corruption
scheme that included kickbacks to Venezuelan government officials in connection
to a 2011 contract to build low-income housing units that were never
constructed. According to the US Justice Department, Saab and his partner
funneled more than $350 million to overseas accounts.
The US Treasury Department has also accused Saab of using
shell companies to embezzle money from Venezuela’s Local Storage and Production
Committees (Comités Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción — CLAP) food aid
program. Saab and others allegedly paid bribes and kickbacks to government
officials to win no-bid, overpriced contracts to import food ration boxes for
poor Venezuelans. The imported bulk food was of poor quality and was bought at
inflated prices.
Saab – a close ally of Maduro – has served as an important
dealmaker for the regime, helping to prop it up in the face of US sanctions.
Saab was instrumental in negotiating deals to sell Venezuelan gold to countries
such as Turkey. He also took part in negotiations with Iran to bring
much-needed oil to Venezuela, according to Bloomberg.
If Saab were to cooperate, he would likely be able to
provide US prosecutors with a complete inventory of alleged illicit cash flows
and other criminal activities involving Maduro and the Venezuelan government.
According to former Venezuela Attorney General Luisa Ortega, Saab laundered
money for Maduro, his family and a number of government officials.
The legal saga of Saab’s extradition, though, suggests that
his lawyers are prepared for a fight and that negotiations are likely to be
slow going if they happen at all.
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