Colombian businessman's lawyers protest US extradition

CARACAS: Lawyers for a graft-accused Colombian businessman who is a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday slammed a decision by a Cape Verde court to extradite him to the United States for trial.

Alex Saab, 49, and his business partner Alvaro Pulido are accused in the United States of running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.

They are alleged to have moved some $350 million out of Venezuela into accounts they controlled in the United States and other countries.

They risk up to 20 years in prison.

Saab, who has Venezuelan nationality and a Venezuelan diplomatic passport, was indicted in July 2019 in Miami for money laundering, and was arrested during a plane stopover in Cape Verde in June 2020.

The United States demanded his extradition while Venezuela called for his release, claiming he was subjected to "mistreatment and torture" at the hands of Cape Verde authorities.

In March, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ordered Cape Verde to free Saab.

But the country's supreme court ruled Cape Verde had not "signed the protocol granting legitimacy to the ECOWAS court," meaning the decision was not binding.

The supreme court's interpretation that Saab was eligible to be extradited was ratified by the constitutional court in a decision published Tuesday.

Saab's lawyers issued a statement Thursday saying the ruling heralded the "death of the rule of law" in Cape Verde, and was a response "to the purely political interests of an agenda dictated by Washington."

One of the lawyers, Pinto Monteiro, said the team would "launch a strong challenge to important legal points."

Cape Verde President Jorge Carlos Fonseca insisted that neither he nor his government "interfere in judicial decisions."

"I reaffirm that we are a very credible democratic state with the rule of law and we are respected everywhere," he said. "The courts decided in full freedom and autonomy."

Under Cape Verde law, the state has 45 days to execute the extradition order.