The envoy of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro resumes extradition to the United States

Bloomberg Thursday, March 25, 2021

Saab, 49, was arrested on June 12 when the private jet he was traveling on from Venezuela to Iran stopped for fuel on Sal Island in Cape Verde.

Lawyers representing a businessman close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have appealed the Cape Verde court’s decision to extradite him to the United States.

The appeal to the High Court of Justice in the capital, Praia, declared that the arrest of Colombian businessman Alex Saab in the archipelago in June of last year was illegal and the handover process should be suspended, according to the document received on Thursday by him. Attorneys. He said that the “series of violations” in the decision to extradite him contradict the constitution of the West African country.

Saab, 49, was arrested on June 12 when the private plane he was traveling on from Venezuela to Iran stopped for fuel on Sal Island in Cape Verde.

Cape Verde authorities said they made the arrest in response to an Interpol red alert. Saab was indicted in a US federal court in Florida on money laundering charges related to bribery of Venezuelan officials. He denied the charges through his lawyer.

On March 15, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States ruled Saab’s release because the red alert requesting his arrest was not issued until one day after his arrest. Two days later, on March 17, the Supreme Court in Cape Verde accepted the US request for Saab’s extradition.

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