Venezuela has deported businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of former President Nicolas Maduro who faces multiple criminal investigations in the United States, in a dramatic reversal less than three years after he was pardoned by then-US President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap deal.Venezuelan immigration authorities announced the decision on Saturday, saying Saab’s removal was based on multiple ongoing criminal investigations in the US. Although the statement did not specify where Saab was sent, it referred to him only as a “Colombian citizen”, an apparent reference to Venezuelan laws that prohibit the extradition of Venezuelan citizens.Saab, 54, long considered Maduro’s “bag man” by US officials, could now become a key witness in cases involving Venezuela’s former leadership. Maduro himself is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a US military raid in January.The deportation marks a sharp fall from grace for Saab, whose return to Venezuela in 2023 was celebrated by Maduro and senior officials as a diplomatic victory over Washington. Following his first arrest in Cape Verde in 2020 while refueling en route to Iran, Maduro and then-acting President Delcy Rodríguez claimed that Saab was a Venezuelan diplomat engaged in a humanitarian mission aimed at circumventing US sanctions.Rodriguez has distanced himself from SAB since taking power on January 3 following Maduro’s ouster. He removed him from his cabinet, stripped him of his role as liaison to foreign investors, and reportedly isolated him from the country’s political and business networks. For months rumors continued to spread that Saab was either under house arrest or in jail.His deportation is expected to deepen divisions within Venezuela’s ruling Chavista movement, which is named after former President Hugo Chávez. Rodriguez has sought closer engagement with Washington, including opening Venezuela’s oil and mining sectors to US investment, angering hardline allies who have long denounced the US as an “empire”.Those critics include Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of the most influential figures in Venezuela’s security apparatus and himself the subject of criminal charges in the United States.In February, US federal prosecutors spent several months investigating Saab’s alleged role in a bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan food import contracts. The investigation stems from a 2021 US Justice Department case against Saab’s longtime associate Alvaro Pulido.The investigation centers on the CLAP program, a government-run plan created under Maduro to distribute food items such as rice, corn flour and cooking oil during Venezuela’s economic collapse and hyperinflation crisis.According to the indictment, Saab, identified as “Co-conspirator 1”, allegedly helped establish a network of companies used to bribe pro-Maduro governors who awarded inflated food import contracts from Mexico.Saab first came under US scrutiny in 2020 after his arrest in Cape Verde while traveling on a private jet to Iran. His extradition to the US at the time was met with outrage by Maduro’s government, which insisted that he have diplomatic status.Rodríguez described Saab’s eventual return to Venezuela in 2023 as a “resounding victory” against the US campaign of “lies and threats”. However, many Republicans criticized Biden’s decision to pardon Saab. Senator Chuck Grassley wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying that history should “remember (Saab) as a predator of the vulnerable.”Biden’s pardon was limited to a 2019 indictment that alleged Saab and Pulido secured contracts through bribes to build low-income housing projects in Venezuela that were never completed. The pardon was part of a broader agreement under which Venezuela released imprisoned Americans and returned fugitive defense contractor Leonard Francis, widely known as “Fat Leonard.”Saab may now become an important witness for US authorities. Court filings and closed-door hearings revealed that he had secretly cooperated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration before his first arrest, helping investigators probe corruption inside Maduro’s inner circle. As part of that cooperation, Saab seized more than US$12 million linked to illicit business transactions.Saab’s Miami-based lawyer Neil Schuster declined to comment, while the US Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.