A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved the extradition to the United States of a Colombian man wanted on suspicion of money laundering and linked with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, his lawyers said Tuesday.
The court made the decision to extradite Alex Saab on Friday, but his legal team was informed about it only on Monday, the team of lawyers said in a statement. They said they would appeal.
Saab was arrested in June when his plane stopped to refuel in the former Portuguese colony on the way to Iran.
Saab was waiting for the court to schedule a hearing at which he could defend himself and oppose extradition, according to the statement sent to The Associated Press.
The legal team described the extradition order as “alarming” and accused Cape Verdean authorities of denying him his legal rights. The defense lawyers plan to appeal to Cape Verde’s Supreme Court and, if necessary, the Constitutional Court, the statement said.
U.S. officials trying to reignite their campaign to oust Maduro believe Saab holds many secrets about how Venezuelan president, his family and top aides allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts at a time of widespread hunger in the oil-rich nation.
Venezuela’s government had protested the arrest of Saab, 48, who it said was traveling on a Venezuelan passport and was on a “humanitarian mission” to buy food and medical supplies.
Saab came onto the radar of U.S. authorities a few years ago after amassing a large number of contracts with Maduro’s government.
Federal prosecutors in Miami indicted him and a business partner last year on money laundering charges connected to an alleged bribery scheme that pocketed more than $350 million from a low-income housing project for the Venezuelan government that was never built.
Separately, Saab had been sanctioned by the Trump administration for allegedly utilizing a network of shell companies spanning the globe — in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Hong Kong, Panama, Colombia and Mexico — to hide huge profits from no-bid, overvalued food contracts obtained through bribes and kickbacks.