Congressmen from Ecuador provide Duque with information about Álex Saab

Is Camilla Fabri at the mercy of the Venezuelan government?

0:47

(CNN Spanish) -

This Tuesday, four Ecuadorian legislators gave the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, information on alleged money laundering operations allegedly led by Álex Saab, the Colombian businessman who is under trial in the United States and to whom the Department Justice considers a front man of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

The legislators, members of the Supervision Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador, presented Duque with the documents and the 125-page report approved by that commission on the Saab case and its regional ties through the Unitary System of Regional Payment Compensation ( SUCRE), created and promoted by Ecuador and Venezuela in 2010 to export through a virtual currency.

• Miami hearing against Alex Saab postponed until February due to concern about covid-19 cases

According to the Control Commission, this report contains important data for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and the United States.

For this reason, the commission announced the sending of documents to the prosecutor's offices and presidencies of these countries.

Duque thanks Ecuador for information about Álex Saab

Duque thanked the legislators for providing the information and emphasized that this binational cooperation fuels the investigations that also began in Colombia regarding alleged money laundering operations with front companies.

"This commission has made us a clear, detailed, accurate exposition of a whole long investigation of a transnational operation of money laundering, money laundering and illegal financing of political activities that have Álex Saab as their brain and in which they have People close to governments of various countries participated, including the dictatorial regime of Venezuela, previous governments in the case of Ecuador, and also Colombian politicians and people who have been linked to state contracting, "Duque said during a press conference.

advertising

In addition, the Colombian president warned that the report of the Oversight Commission records which political personalities would be linked to Saab, who received campaign financing, who mobilized on their planes and lent themselves to "front man" operations, money laundering and tax fraud in several countries through accounts registered in tax havens.

The president of the Audit Commission, Fernando Villavicencio, said that the objective of Saab and Chavismo was allegedly to appropriate the freely available reserves of the Ecuadorian State as it is the only country in the region whose official currency is the dollar.

"Ecuador contributes to a great crusade against continental corruption. If organized crime acts on a continental and global level, those of us who fight against corruption must also do so," Villavicencio explained.

CNN reached out by phone and in writing to Henry Philip Bell, Álex Saab's lawyer, to ask him about the information provided by Ecuador to Colombia, but after several attempts it was not possible to make contact.

In recent months, the group of Ecuadorian legislators has compiled information and testimonies on this case that would allow the Colombian authorities and those of the countries involved to complete the investigations into the alleged businesses of Saab and its partners through a business holding called Fondo Global Construcciones. (Flogocons), which according to the Commission's investigation would have served as a front for fictitious operations between the countries.

The 'SUCRE case'

In the specific case of Colombia, the Ecuadorian Control Commission maintains that its investigations would reveal the reasons why Saab would have signed "front" operations with Colombia for the export of houses to Venezuela, which did not materialize but would have allowed the incursion of the Saab company through the SUCRE system despite the fact that Colombia was not a subscriber.

At the end of December 2021, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office, after receiving documentation from the Assembly's Audit Commission, announced the start of a preliminary investigation for embezzlement related to the SUCRE and Saab compensation system, and notified former President Rafael of the same. Correa, who has resided in Belgium since 2017.

“I have just been notified with a preliminary investigation of the 'SUCRE case', one more cantinflada (there are already 48) paid by the Ecuadorian people.

The Ecuadorian justice, a circus, members of the majority of the control commission, part of the clowns, ”Correa wrote in reaction to the beginning of this investigation against him for embezzlement.

Alex Saab met with US forces revealed 0:38

This Tuesday, Correa described the presentation of this report as "one more antics" and denied knowing Saab.

Regarding the "SUCRE case," he said that "fictitious exports and over-invoicing occurred before the SUCRE, because they do not respond to an international trade instrument, but to the exchange differential in Venezuela between the official dollar price and the market price."

Correa said at the end that there is nothing to worry about and that "the show must go on."

In mid-December, the Comptroller General of Ecuador, Carlos Riofrío, delivered a report to the Supervisory Commission that, according to the official, was hidden for 6 years and that determined indications of criminal responsibility for fictitious exports through the SUCRE System in against at least 31 officials of different positions in financial institutions during the Correa government.

According to data provided by the Central Bank (BCE) to the Supervision Commission, the operations of at least 300 companies through the SUCRE System would have allowed a drain of US $ 2,697 million from the Ecuadorian reserve through fictitious exports between 2010 and 2019 that put their liquidity at risk.

99% of those transactions were made to Venezuela, according to the ECB.

The Audit Commission recommended that the Prosecutor's Office investigate and determine the responsibilities of those who between 2010 and 2014 allowed the creation of “front” companies and operations to benefit from the SUCRE system and give the appearance of legality to their activities.