A court in Cape Verde ruled Tuesday that a businessman close to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrested last year in the West African country can be extradited to the United States to face money-laundering charges.
By AP – Joshua Goodman and Barry Hatton
Sep 07, 2021
The Constitutional Court unanimously rejected Alex Saab’s appeal, which was filed after his extradition was approved by another Cape Verde court five months ago.
Saab was arrested in June 2020 when his private jet made a refueling stop on the small island chain, formerly a Portuguese colony, en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government has described as a humanitarian mission.
The Constitutional Court’s three judges were Saab’s last hope of avoiding a U.S. trial. But it was not immediately clear whether he had any additional legal recourse or when he might be put on a plane to the United States.
Saab’s legal team declined immediate comment, saying it was still reading through the almost 200-page ruling.
U.S. officials believe Saab holds numerous secrets about how Maduro, the president’s family and his top aides allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts amid widespread hunger in oil-rich Venezuela.
His defense team has argued, among other things, that Saab was a diplomatic envoy of the Venezuelan government and as such possesses immunity from prosecution while on his official mission.
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