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The Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, linked to the Government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and accused of money laundering crimes in the United States, who according to his lawyer is going to plead not guilty, has his second appointment with the United States Justice in Miami for today, Monday, November 1.
Lawyer Henry Bell confirmed that Saab, 49 years old and extradited on October 16 from Cape Verde, will not admit his guilt, something that would have allowed him to avoid a public trial. Pleading guilty is the step normally taken by defendants who reach collaboration agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office with a view to achieving softer penalties if they are convicted.
The Prosecutor’s Office already advanced in the first hearing its position against being granted bail on the grounds that there is a risk of flight. Bell did not deny or confirm that the defense will request that measure at the second hearing, but in any case it is a decision that corresponds to the judge in the case, Robert N. Scola.
Since May 2019, more than a year before his capture in Cape Verde due to an order issued through Interpol, the businessman has been subject to sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury. .UU.
Prosecutors believe that he laundered more than $ 350 million to pay for the corruption of the Venezuelan president through the US financial system.
The first hearing took place on October 18 before Judge John O’Sullivan amid great expectation, so much so that there were times when there were 350 people connected to the zoom session, most of them journalists.
While the Venezuelan exile in the US trusts that Saab will collaborate with the US Justice and thus expose Maduro, from Caracas official spokesmen and the businessman’s wife insist that he is not going to “bend.”
Prosecutor of the ICC in Caracas
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, arrived in Venezuela yesterday, to fulfill a three-day work schedule in which he will meet with the country’s authorities. The ICC has kept a preliminary examination open to Venezuela, since February 2018, for alleged abuses by its security forces, both in the demonstrations that occurred since April 2017 and in some prisons where opponents have been mistreated.
The country is awaiting whether the high international court opens a formal investigation into the events denounced or whether the case is closed.
Former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced in 2020 that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela, but after her departure, the case has been left to Khan, who must make the final decision.
In making a decision, Khan is expected to listen to officials, opponents and civil society organizations who have asked to meet with him.
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