Saab’s defense demands evidence

Colombian businessman Alex Saab, accused by Washington of being a figurehead for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he pressured the United States government this Friday to provide him with documents that would show that he was working as a diplomat and that therefore he cannot be sued.

Saab is accused of having laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from corrupt deals with the Maduro government and alleges that he cannot be prosecuted because he enjoys diplomatic immunity.

Saab’s request further delays the judicial process. An evidentiary hearing on his alleged diplomatic status that was originally scheduled for August 29 before Judge Robert Scola, was postponed until October. The next hearing to assess the status of the case will be on August 26.

At Friday’s hearing of about 45 minutes, Saab’s defense said it was concerned that the Justice Department was not presenting requested evidence and documents needed for subsequent hearings.

He explained that it is an issue of diplomatic immunity and that some of those agencies would have documents that would help the defense to prove it. Among the documents that would help them the most would be some from the State Department.

Prosecutor Kurt Lunkenheimer, however, stated that many of these documents were not from the Department of Justice and therefore the delay is not his responsibility. He said that he had requested documents from the State Department but had not received them so far. He further clarified that some of those documents could be classified and restricted access.

“We have no control over them. We have made the requests and we are waiting for the documents required by the defense,” said the prosecutor.

Saab, who pleaded not guilty in NovemberHe made no statement at the hearing. He looked serious, with his black hair tied back in a small ponytail. He was dressed in a beige prison uniform, handcuffed and with shackles on his ankles. He was wearing headphones to listen to the audience’s translation into Spanish, and a face mask.

Judge Scola gave the prosecution until August 15 to present the documents to Saab’s defense.

The businessman seeks to show that the government knew he was acting as a US diplomat when requested his extradition to Cape Verde, where he was arrested. The request for documents from him includes numerous government agencies and departments, including the Department of Justice and State, the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Council.

Prosecutor Lunkenheimer said Saab claimed diplomatic immunity a few days after being detained in Cape Verdein an attempt to show that it was a strategy specifically created to evade US justice.

Saab was a DEA collaborator in 2018 and an “active source” of information about the bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials, according to documents in the online file.

The US authorities have presented him as a close collaborator of Maduro who benefited from multimillion-dollar contracts after paying bribes. Venezuela maintains that Saab was one of its diplomats on a humanitarian mission en route to Iran when his plane was stopped in Cape Verde while stopping to refuel.

The prosecution accused him of amassing a fortune of more than 350 million dollars through businesses for which he would have paid bribes to Venezuelan officials and falsified documents to obtain contracts for the construction of affordable housing.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.