Britain sanctions Maduro’s envoy Saab

LONDON — Britain on Thursday sanctioned one of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s envoys, Alex Saab, in connection with an allegedly corrupt deal to obtain supplies for Maduro’s government-run food subsidy programme.

Saab, a Colombian national, is currently detained in Cape Verde facing extradition to the United States, which accuses him of helping Maduro’s government skirt U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019.

Britain said Saab had been sanctioned along with his associate Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas for exploiting two of Venezuela’s public programmes which were set up to supply poor Venezuelans with affordable foodstuffs and housing.

“They benefited from improperly awarded contracts, where promised goods were delivered at highly inflated prices,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. “Their actions caused further suffering to already poverty-stricken Venezuelans, for their own private enrichment”.

Saab’s lawyers could not immediately be contacted but have previously called the U.S. charges “politically motivated.”. Venezuela’s information ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Saab was arrested last June in Cape Verde after Interpol issued a so-called red notice.

At the time of his arrest, Saab was en route to Iran to negotiate shipments of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Venezuela, his lawyers previously told Reuters. His plane had stopped in the archipelago nation off the coast of West Africa to refuel.