US Judge Denies Diplomatic Immunity For Nicolas Maduro’s Close Ally Alex Saab Moran

Businessman Alex Saab Moran, a close ally of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, had asserted diplomatic immunity, but his plea was rejected by a federal judge in America on Friday.

Attorneys of the 51-year-old Colombian-born Moran argued that the charges against him should be dismissed, as he was acting as a diplomat for the government of Venezuela, reported Al Jazeera. In a 15-page ruling, Judge Robert Scola in Miami, Florida, dismissed those arguments. The judge's ruling asserted that since America does not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s second term, the court cannot recognise his close ally as a representative of his government. Scola wrote that Maduro’s regime "has been deemed ‘illegitimate,'” and that any claim to "diplomatic immunity asserted" by a representative of his regime must also be "considered illegitimate.”

According to VOA, Moran is being held in a Miami prison. The latest decision continues a nearly two-year-long legal battle over Moran. It has heightened tensions between America and Venezuela. Moran faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, for which he could be sentenced to 20 years in jail.

The U.S. Justice Department accused him of participating in a bribery scheme that started in 2011 and continued for four years. Earlier, prosecutors had requested that seven additional charges be dropped to comply with his extradition's terms. Prosecutors said that he and his associates allegedly got contracts from the Venezuelan government to build low-income houses. But they took $350 million out of the country just to take advantage of favorable exchange rates.

Moran's lawyer Neil Schuster entered a plea of “not guilty” for his client last year. Schuster referred to him as a “diplomat of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."

On June 12, 2020, he was arrested in Cabo Verde, an archipelago on Africa’s Atlantic coast, after the private plane he was flying in stopped to refuel. He was extradited to America on Oct. 16, 2020. In Venezuela, Maduro and his allies described his arrest as part of an “economic war” that America is waging on the socialist-led country. In the month following Moran's extradition, Maduro said that Moran was "chased down, kidnapped and tortured for helping Venezuela."

In last week’s hearings, Moran's defense characterised the arrest as a kidnapping. Lawyer Lee Casey said that it’s like if "you were to kidnap someone, bring them to your home and then charge them with trespassing."