The lawyers of the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, alleged front man of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, denounced this Tuesday that his client was prohibited from contacting his international legal team, after he was placed under house arrest on Monday.
“Specifically, he is prohibited from using the telephone, the internet, or communication by letter,” said the defense team of the Colombian businessman, who is being requested by the United States for alleged money laundering, in a statement.
The defense indicated that, in this way, the businessman has “fewer communication possibilities” than those he had when he was in jail, because before “he could communicate through daily letters with his legal team and family, and a few minutes a week he could make calls to his relatives ”.
“This measure goes against his right of defense, especially with regard to working with lawyers outside of Cape Verde, with whom he is denied all kinds of contact,” said former Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón, who is part of Saab’s defense, cited in the statement.
According to the text, the lawyers have expressed “their bewilderment” over the conditions in which their client must remain under house arrest.
Alex Saab was placed under house arrest yesterday afternoon, after the Barlovento Court of Appeals, on the island of São Vicente, authorized the measure on the 21st.
Saab will be housed in a private residence in the tourist town of Santa María, accommodated for this purpose and guarded by members of the Cape Verde National Police and private security guards, as revealed late Monday by the local media Notícias do Norte.
The 41-year-old businessman was arrested on June 12, 2020 when the plane in which he was traveling made a stopover to refuel at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport on the Cape Verdean island of Sal, following a request from the United States through of Interpol of course money laundering.
The US considers Saab a “front man” for Maduro and suspected of having laundered – along with his right hand, Álvaro Enrique Pulido – up to 350 million dollars (about 296 million euros) to allegedly pay for the corrupt acts of the Venezuelan president.
Last December, the Cape Verdean justice had denied Saab house arrest, and a few weeks later gave the green light for his extradition to the United States, a decision appealed by the defense.
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