U.S. Hits Venezuela Food ‘Corruption Network’ With Sanctions
- Saab is said to have significantly profited from food program
- U.S. Treasury also sanctioned Maduro’s three stepsons
Volunteers, left, distribute food at the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on Feb. 21, 2019.
Photographer: Federico Rios/BloombergThe U.S. sanctioned a Colombian businessman it said corruptly helped the regime of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and others make hundreds of millions of dollars from a food-distribution network that’s supposed to serve starving people.
Alex Nain Saab Moran paid bribes and kickbacks to government officials to win no-bid, overpriced contracts to import food ration boxes for poor Venezuelans, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday. Rather than distribute the food to the needy, the Maduro regime often used it to reward supporters and punish political critics, the U.S. said. At the same time, Saab laundered hundreds of millions of dollars out of Venezuela, the Treasury said.