The Colombian businessman accused of being a figurehead for Nicolás Maduro was an "active source" of information to the DEA

By Gisela Salomon

MIAMI — A Colombian businessman accused by the United States of being a figurehead for President Nicolás Maduro became a collaborator with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2018 and an “active source” of information on bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials, according to documents made public Wednesday.

Alex Saab, who is accused of having laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from corrupt deals with the Maduro government, transferred more than 10 million dollars that he obtained through those operations to the DEA as part of a cooperation agreement with the authorities. that included numerous meetings with agents and prosecutors in Colombia and Europe.

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However, the United States stopped considering him a collaborator after Saab missed a May 30, 2019 deadline to turn himself in and face charges in Florida, according to prosecutors.

The information was revealed after a heated federal court hearing, in which Saab's defense pleaded with Judge Robert Scola to keep the information secret because the physical safety of Saab's family in Venezuela could be put at risk if the government of Maduro knew her.

“If the Venezuelan government learns the extent of what this individual has provided, I have no doubt that there will be retaliation against his wife and children,” said attorney Neil Schuster.

"I think it will create a situation where his family will be incarcerated, harmed, or physically harmed," he added.

US authorities have portrayed Saab as a close associate of Maduro who profited from multimillion-dollar contracts after paying bribes.

Venezuela, on the other hand, maintains that Saab was one of its diplomats on a humanitarian mission en route to Iran when his plane was stopped in Cape Verde while stopping to refuel.

Pedestrians walk near an Alex Saab poster in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 9, 2021. Ariana Cubillos / AP

The US prosecutor's office accuses Saab of amassing a fortune of more than 350 million dollars through businesses for which he would have paid bribes to Venezuelan officials and falsified documents to obtain contracts for the construction of affordable housing.

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Saab, 49, pleaded not guilty in November and his lawyers argue that as a diplomat he has immunity.

He remains in custody at a federal prison in Miami.

The businessman arrived at the audience handcuffed and shackled, dressed in a beige prison uniform and mask.

He looked serious, his salt-and-pepper hair neatly pulled back in a small bun, and made no statement.

The judge briefly ordered the public out of the courtroom as the two sides argued over whether or not to make public two documents prosecutors had filed a year ago when Saab was trying to prevent his extradition from Cape Verde.

The documents, which the judge ultimately ordered made public, include details of his cooperation with the DEA and the Justice Department.

As the public stood outside, Schuster asked the judge for Saab to be released on parole on bail as a result of his cooperation with the US government.

Scola, however, rejected the request, citing among other things Saab's attempts to prevent his extradition, according to a full transcript of the hearing that includes the part where the public was not allowed to be in the courtroom.

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The judge also set the week of October 11 as a preliminary trial date.

When presenting the documents a year ago, the prosecution requested that they be secret because at that time he thought it would be risky for him and his family if the details of the collaboration were known in Venezuela.

On Wednesday, however, prosecutors said it was time to make them public, with which the judge agreed that they cannot remain hidden indefinitely.

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According to those documents, Saab met several times with DEA ​​agents and US prosecutors, between August 2016 and June 2019, and in 2018 he signed the cooperation agreement with the DEA.

As a result of that agreement, he communicated by phone, text and voice messages with the agents, and even proactively offered information.

In the meetings, Saab informed officials about his companies that had contracts with the Venezuelan government to build affordable housing, including information about how those companies received payments and what happened to the money after they received the funds, according to the documents.

In a separate meeting in June 2018, Saab admitted to paying bribes related to food supply contracts, the documents show.

[Alex Saab assures that he has "nothing to collaborate" with the US justice.]

However, another of Saab's lawyers seeking an Atlanta appeals court to rule in favor of diplomatic immunity denied any cooperation.

"The sole purpose" of Saab's meetings with US officials was to "confirm that neither he nor any company related to him had done anything wrong," attorney David B. Rivkin said in a written statement.

The businessman's wife, Camilla Fabri, meanwhile, said on her Twitter account that “USA.

lies blatantly, as with Russia and Iraq”, and that Saab “will never harm Venezuela, it has not done it and it will not do it”.