Saab network financed political campaigns: Duke

PRESIDENT Iván Duque received members of the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador, who gave him a report of more than 10,000 pages detailing the activities carried out by businessman Álex Saab in several countries of the region, and which involves former presidents and political leaders of the continent, including former President Juan Manuel Santos and former Senator Piedad Córdoba.

Initially, the President stated that “the whole truth of this transnational crime structure led by Álex Saab must be known, and that it should also be known how this network was intended to finance political campaigns and finance operations that were linked to corruption in different places. of the continent and the world.

Likewise, the Head of State stated that the information provided does not generate any type of doubt. “I want to congratulate the delivery of this information, thank you, and tomorrow when that information is formally delivered to the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, we await the pronouncement on the protocols and steps to be followed by the investigative entity of our country,” he added.

In addition, Duque mentioned that “including the dictatorial regime of Venezuela, previous governments in the case of Ecuador and also Colombian politicians and people who have been linked to state contracting, we have received this information, not only in immense detail.”

Report details

The president of the Audit Commission of Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio, assured that this document not only establishes the framework of corruption carried out by Álex Saab and his partner Álvaro Pulido, but also mentions the close relations with recognized leaders of South America, among them, the former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos.

“It is suspicious that the Santos government sent Álex Saab as a delegate of the Colombian State, as a representative of a contract with the Venezuelan government for the export of prefabricated houses. That contract was not executed from Colombia, but from Ecuador. What we can see is that he facilitated a simulated contract so that two obscure characters such as Álvaro Pulido and Saab could participate,” the official told Colombian radio.

It should be remembered that the agreement in question is the one signed between Colombia and Venezuela on November 28, 2011, with which it was intended to provide prefabricated homes to thousands of families in the neighboring country, through the Global Construction Fund organization ( owned by Saab and Pulido), which led to one of the largest acts of corruption in Latin America.

Likewise, the president of the Supervisory Commission said that the agreement was to build 8,400 houses of the Great Housing Mission in Venezuela for a value close to $654 million dollars and highlighted the relationship that former senator Piedad Córdoba had with the businessman from Barranquilla.

“Details of the flights of Álex Saab and Álvaro Pulido are revealed, Piedad Córdoba and her son entered Quito on one of the Saab planes and had American registration, Mrs. Piedad Córdoba cannot deny their friendship,” he added.

However, the former congresswoman has stated on multiple occasions that she had some relationship with Saab.

“A certain Fernando Villavicencio, a right-wing politician from Ecuador, comes to stage a cheap pantomime against me. His hatred against former President Correa leads him to drag everyone without looking at who. I am preparing a judicial process against that wretch. Eagles do not catch flies,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Likewise, the report details that “Saab would have used the compensation system of the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the peoples of America (ALBA) to launder money through payment for fictitious or undervalued exports between Ecuador and Venezuela.”

Other former presidents splashed in this report are the late Hugo Chávez and Rafael Correa, of whom there is a preliminary investigation into this fact.

“He knew the entire plot of the Sucre, he even created it. Ecuador was highly affected because the Government of Venezuela, based on this compensation system, took control of a large part of the freely available reserve. There are 2,697 million dollars that were delivered to false exporters. This put Ecuador’s liquidity at risk,” Villavicencio commented.