CAPE VERDE, June 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Colombian businessman, Alex Saab, accused of being a front man for Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, and of laundering millions of dollars, allegedly through the country’s exchange control system, was arrested in Cape Verde, according to media reports on Saturday.
Saab, 48, was on a private plane and was arrested when the plane landed in the African island nation to refuel, according to the daily El Tiempo, which cites people close to him. No Colombian authority has yet spoken out about Saab’s situation or confirmed his arrest. An Interpol “blue circular” is in force against the businessman.
Although he remained a low-profile and unremarkable businessman in Colombia, Saab’s name appeared in the media, when former Venezuelan prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, accused him in 2017 of being one of Maduro’s front men.
The Colombian businessman, born in the Caribbean town of Barranquilla and of Lebanese descent, is related to several companies, among them, the Group Grand Limited (GGL), which is accused of supplying Maduro’s regime with overpriced food and provisions, for the government’s Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP).
A US government official said in July last year that, with CLAPs, which are given to the poorest, the Colombian businessman and three of Maduro’s stepchildren reportedly made “hundreds of millions of dollars.”– NNN-AGENCIES
