Oct 18 Reuters - Nicolas Maduro, a businessman accused of laundering money on behalf of Venezuela's government, will be arraigned in Florida federal court on Monday in a case that pits the United States against the government of Venezuela.
During the 2019 U.S. prosecutors charged Saab in Venezuela in connection with bribery scheme linked to the state-controlled exchange rate in America. The United States also sanctioned him for allegedly orchestrating a scheme that allowed him and Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to profit from a state-run food distribution program.
Saab said on Saturday that it would resume negotiations with the opposition that were set to resume over the weekend after Venezuela's extradition.
It also dismissed the house arrest of six former executives of refiner Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of state oil company PDVSA, two sources and a family member told Reuters.
The former Citgo executives who were arrested in November 2017 after being summoned to meet at the PDVSA headquarters in Caracas, were taken from their homes to one of the intelligence police Headquarters, two sources said on Saturday.
The group is composed of five permanent/naturalized US citizens and one natural resident. The U.S. government has repeatedly demanded their release.
Saab, a Colombian national, was arrested in June 2020 when his plane stopped to refuel in Cape Verde.
The national courts approved his extradition after a long legal battle.
The Venezuelan government accuses the United States of kidnapping Saab, whom they describe as a diplomatic envoy who was en route to Iran to negotiate supplies of fuel and food that have been interrupted by U.S. sanctions.
In 2019, Washington created a broad sanctions program to force Maduro from power.
The sanctions have reduced Venezuela's capacity to import fuel and crippled its fuel imports, worsening an economic crisis fueled by years of hyperinflation and the steady decline in Venezuela's oil industry.