EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit has just learned of a substantive decision by the Medellín Superior Court, related to the process of asset forfeiture against Barranquilla native Álex Saab, accused frontman for Nicolás Maduro.
Saab, who remains imprisoned in the United States, is under investigation in Colombia within a money laundering process involving assets from the Venezuelan regime.
The file
EL TIEMPO had already revealed that in January 2025 Saab had won a battle against the Prosecutor’s Office related to the asset forfeiture process of several of his luxurious properties. Among these, a mega mansion located in an exclusive neighborhood of Barranquilla.
The luxurious property is located in the Riomar neighborhood and besides the initial images, this newspaper discovered that several lots were joined to build a pool, a tennis court, a spa, five bathrooms, about ten bedrooms, and gardens on 3,800 square meters.
The case file states that through a communication from U.S. anti-drug agencies, it was learned that people of Lebanese descent would invest large sums of money of dubious origin. And according to a human source, it was Álex Saab and his brother Amir Saab, who were connected to a network of companies, including the Promotora Dubera Society.
Precisely, that promoter appears buying the four lots where Saab’s house was built in Barranquilla. That is why the firm and its leaders began to be investigated for alleged money laundering aimed at legalizing illicit resources obtained by Saab’s “criminal organization.”
The decision
And last January, Judge Milton Joel Barcárcel stated that the evidence presented leads to the conclusion that the National Prosecutor’s Office failed to prove that the questioned assets constitute an unjustified economic increase of the Promotora Dubera SAS company.
That decision has just been confirmed by the Medellín Superior Court.
In the decision exclusively obtained by EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit, it is stated that the Prosecutor’s Office failed to build a sufficiently robust set of indications of illegality in the generation or channeling of funds invested in Promotora Dubera S.A.S.
“The affected party reasonably fulfilled his burden of patrimonial justification by offering a coherent, documented economic explanation consistent with the sectoral and exchange context in which his businesses operated”, the Court states.
Meanwhile, Saab remains imprisoned in the United States for money laundering and 7 of his properties in Colombia are in the possession of the Special Assets Society (SAE).
(Check here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
With this decision, it is assumed that in the coming days associates of the accused frontman for Maduro will begin to claim them.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@Uinvestigativa ET
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