Former Venezuelan regime minister and Colombian businessman Alex Saab was arrested this Wednesday (4) during a joint operation between Venezuelan authorities and the FBI, carried out in the early hours of the morning, according to information confirmed by the Colombian press.
According to the Snail RadioSaab was detained in Caracas and is currently in the custody of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) while the possibility of his extradition to the United States is evaluated. The same operation would also have resulted in the capture of Venezuelan lawyer Raúl Belisario Gorrín – accused by United States authorities of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and involvement in money laundering schemes -, according to the Venezuelan portal Alberto News.
Saab held a ministerial position while dictator Nicolás Maduro was in power, before being captured in January by the US. He headed the Ministry of Industries and National Production and, later, that of National Commerce. Saab is identified as one of the main financial operators linked to the Chavista regime, associated with corruption and money laundering schemes.
Saab had already been arrested in 2020, in Cape Verde, and extradited to the United States in 2021, where he faced charges of conspiracy to launder money and participation in corruption schemes linked to the supply of subsidized food. He remained imprisoned in the country until December 2023, when he was released as part of a prisoner exchange authorized by the then President of the United States, Joe Biden.
In March 2024, the American court definitively dismissed all eight cases against Saab, a decision signed by federal judge Robert Scola, formally ending the accusations of money laundering and corruption at that time.
According to the profile drawn up by the organization InSight Crime, Saab is identified by international authorities as one of the main financial operators linked to the Nicolás Maduro regime, accused of being part of multimillion-dollar corruption schemes and diversion of Venezuelan public resources to accounts abroad.
