Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab issues statements to the press on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Photo: X/@MinPublicoVEN.
Former Venezuela Minister for Economy and Finance Simón Zerpa is currently being investigated for an alleged connection with the abduction of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab in Cape Verde. Zerpa was recently arrested for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion-dollar corruption case referred to as PDVSA-Crypto.
This was reported by the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, to Telesur journalist Madelein García, who posted a video on her social media accounts with the following caption: “We are advancing this investigation path because there is a complaint against Simón Zerpa that links him to the kidnapping of Saab.”
Attorney General Saab pointed out that Venezuela is in the stage of investigating this allegation.
Zerpa provided Alex Saab’s itinerary to US
The former Minister of Economy and Finance, Simón Zerpa, allegedly played a spy role, providing the United States with key information from Venezuela regarding the entry of food and medicine into the country, according to intelligence reports, within the framework of the criminal and illegal US sanctions aiming at ousting the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
US Court Dismisses Charges Against Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab
For this reason, Zerpa informed the US government of the entire itinerary of the flight that Alex Saab made in June 2020. This information allowed Interpol agents, pressured by the US government, to capture the diplomat in Cape Verde on June 12, 2020, from where he was taken to the United States the following year.
The government of President Nicolás Maduro and most analysts have maintained that Saab was captured to reduce the possibility of food, medicine, and fuel entering Venezuela, as part of the illegal economic blockade—euphemistically referred to as “sanctions”—imposed by the United States. This was aimed at provoking a violent ouster of Maduro’s government.
Former Minister Zerpa was captured last Tuesday by agents of the National Anti-Corruption Police along with the former president of PDVSA, Tareck El Aissami, and businessman Samark López. The three were accused of involvement in a corruption plot that also aimed to “implode the Venezuelan economy” and, in this way, generate economic unrest and chaos for political purposes, according to what was stated by the attorney general, Tarek William Saab.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
