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The supposed clandestine trip to Venezuela, on August 19, of two Cape Verdean businessmen to seek the freedom of Álex Saab has just had a new judicial consequence.
The Judicial Police of Cape Verde raided the offices and houses of the millionaire pharmaceutical businessman Fernando Gil Évora and Carlos Anjos investigated for allegedly traveling to Caracas on a private plane to speak directly with Nicolás Maduro about the Saab case.
The measure is known shortly after EL TIEMPO revealed that Saab was appointed permanent ambassador and plenipotentiary of Venezuela in Africa, with alleged absolute immunity.
(We invite you to read: Maduro’s move to grant Álex Saab immunity)
This is the Cape Verdean businessman who held meetings with people close to Saab.
The raids were carried out by inspectors from the Judicial Police (PJ), led by Vital Moeda and, according to local media, they took their personal computers and their respective cell phones in a simultaneous operation carried out in recent days.
(You may be interested: What does the US say about Saab being Maduro’s plenipotentiary ambassador?) This could even be a measure prior to defining the legal situation of Gil Évora and Carlos Anjos, who have not yet been charged.
Nicolás Maduro has shown the interest of his dictatorship to avoid the extradition of Saab.
What were they looking for?
According to the Public Ministry, the meeting of the two executives with the regime could constitute the crime of usurpation of authority, provided for in article 312 of the Penal Code and punishable by imprisonment of 1 to 5 years.
(Also: Why is Piedad Córdoba still in the DEA’s dossier on Álex Saab?)
“This is the step prior to deciding whether to accuse them or not. It is expected to find messages on their computers and telephones about the true background of the contacts with Venezuela.“said a person familiar with the matter.
The government of Cape Verde had already taken the measure of removing Gil Évora from the position of chairman of the board of directors of the Public Company of Import and Distribution of Pharmaceutical Products (Emprofac).
And he had also distanced himself from Anjos, the former director general of tourism. At the time, EL TIEMPO Gil Évorade issued a statement in which he denied having traveled to Venezuela and spent the night at the Miraflores Palace, after a meeting with Maduro.
(In context: Who are the ’emissaries’ from Cape Verde that landed in Caracas?) However, he admitted a trip to meet with members of the defense of Saab, a request for extradition by the United States that processed him for money laundering of more than 350 million dollars, linked to corrupt contracts with the regime to build social interest houses .
This is the office with which Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza asks Saab to assume immediate functions in Ethiopia.
“We were not in any presidential palace, so we did not contact any president, much less with government entities of another country. In this sense, it is globally false to speak of political rallies, etc., and we want to deny them completely because they only serve to feed the delight of some who want us to forcibly get involved in some plot of which we are not and do not want to be part of, “explains Gil Évora, in his statement.
(We invite you to read: This is Álex Saab’s credit card that entangles 2 Colombians)
However, he admitted that he traveled to Spain, at the invitation of a Cape Verdean consultancy in the field of civil aviation, which has been providing services to Alex Saab’s legal group since June.
The consultancy, says the statement, only sought to know and establish the procedures for obtaining authorizations for flights and obtaining visas to enter Cape Verde, “as well as other logistical aspects given the urgent need for the group to travel to our country “.
The raids are known at a time when the defense of Saab and Venezuela demand that he be released, now in his capacity as ambassador of the regime.
A new hearing is scheduled for January 10 before the West African Court of Justice (Cedeao), in which they will insist that he be granted house arrest for expiration of terms and / or freedom, as a senior diplomatic official.
(Check here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)
In the meantime, after the judicial vacancy, the case will leave the Court of Appeals to the Supreme of Justice for the final decision on the fate of Saab.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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@UinvestigativaET
