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News > Venezuela

Switzerland Not To Investigate Venezuelan Diplomatic Envoy

  • People wear T-shirts asking for Alex Saab's release, 2021.

    People wear T-shirts asking for Alex Saab's release, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @Jon_tintin

Published 26 March 2021
Opinion

The U.S. accused Alex Saab of money laundering and links to an alleged network of shell companies.

Prosecutor's Office in Geneva dismissed an investigation against Venezuela's diplomatic envoy Alex Saab over accusations of money laundering via Swiss offshore accounts. 

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Venezuela Calls To Observe Humanitarian Measures on Saab Case

Saab's investigation was submitted to the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) based on 22 accounts linked to the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS).

"There is, as it stands, no further evidence to further investigate the charge and the public prosecutor's office will move to discontinue these criminal proceedings," the sentence reads.

This decision was taken after Geneva's Prosecutor analyzed the information from UBS which showed account operations only at banks in Switzerland. 

Saab is currently in detention in Cape Verde after being arrested in June last year, following a U.S. request issued through the International Police (Interpol). He faces an extradition order to the U.S. despite the calls on Cape Verdean authorities by the Venezuelan government to observe his diplomatic status, which was granted due to his work on acquiring supplies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bolivarian nation.

Furthermore, Cape Verdean authorities refused to comply with a rule by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Justice Court allowing Saab's house arrest given his deteriorating health condition. 

"Saab's detention is part of the obsessive campaign orchestrated by the outgoing U.S. government against President Nicolas Maduro's legitimate government with the aim of politically and diplomatically undermining Venezuela," Venezuelan diplomacy warned. 

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