The court hearing prior to the trial of the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, alleged front man of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, scheduled for January 7 in Miami, postponed to February 16 due to the pandemic, Judge Robert N. Scola reported Wednesday.
“In light of the increase in COVID-19, if the hearing were to take place on January 7, the defendant would have to be quarantined for 14 days after the hearing, which interfere with your ability to consult with an attorney“, explained the judge.
The United States recorded on Monday more than a million cases of coronavirus, mainly due to the omicron variant, highly contagious, according to a balance of the Johns Hopkins University.
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The trial was scheduled for January 3, but the magistrate himself postponed it because he did not offer a “realistic” deadline. and decided that the new date will be set on January 7.
The US prosecutor considers him a front man for Maduro and considers that Saab and his partner, the Colombian fugitive Álvaro Pulido, they transferred 350 million dollars obtained illegally in Venezuela to launder them through the United States.
The indictment assures that both profited illegally and they created a network of bribes, taking advantage of a contract signed with the Venezuelan government in November 2011 to build low-income housing.
