Investigations from the United States, Israel and Colombia have linked, through several financial transactions, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s alleged accomplice Alex Saab to Hezbollah.
Saab is seen as a beneficiary under the Venezuelan state program called the Local Supply and Production Committees, which administer basic foods to citizens at a subsidized costs through foreign exchanges for the acquisition of food items from abroad.
Saab was connected to the food distribution by the contracts which the Grand Limited Group company signed with Maduro.
These transactions traced back to Saab “originated with the Central Bank of Venezuela and ended up in Asia after passing through tax havens,” reported The PanAm Post. Those transactions then allegedly went to Hezbollah.
Although Colombia is investigating Saab, a native of the country, for money laundering, both the U.S. and Israel are seeking to capture him, according to The PanAm Post.
Meanwhile, Venezuela recently forbid journalists from publishing about Saab’s connections to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s presence in South American includes drug trafficking and money-laundering. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice designated Hezbollah as a transnational crime group on Monday, officially making the Lebanese terrorist group the highest priority of law enforcement.
