( Spanish) — Judge Robert Scola, from South Florida, dismissed this Friday the request of businessman of Colombian origin Alex Saab Morán to dismiss the corruption accusations against him.
The defense in this case has argued that at the time of his arrest, Saab Morán had diplomatic immunity, as stated in the order issued by the judge.
Saab Morán is a businessman and alleged financier of the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who was extradited to the United States from Cape Verde in 2021.
According to the document from the Court of the Southern District of Florida, the judge considered that the defense could not demonstrate that the temporary immunity that Saab Morán allegedly enjoyed complied with the requirements of international law.
“At the time of his arrest, Saab Morán was, at best, a special envoy for the Maduro regime, which the United States has not recognized as the official government of Venezuela since January 2019. So, Saab Morán has no right to diplomatic immunity in the United States,” added the judge in his legal conclusions.
The US government alleges that Saab Morán was behind a corruption network involving CLAP, a Venezuelan government-subsidized food program that allegedly allowed Maduro and his allies to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from the people of his country. and at the same time using food as a form of social control.
In 2021, a Florida judge dismissed seven of eight money laundering charges against Saab Morán, according to court documents.
Saab Morán still faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, for which he pleaded not guilty in mid-November 2021.
