A court in Cape Verde has approved the extradition to the United States of a Colombian businessman accused by Washington of money laundering, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

Alex Saab and his business partner Alvaro Pulido have been charged in the US with moving some $350 million out of Venezuela either to the United States or through the US to foreign accounts.

If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.

Saab's lawyers said in a statement that the decision by an appeals court in Cape Verde, which is off the west coast of Africa, was "not a surprise" and that they would take their case to the country's supreme court.

Pulido's whereabouts are unknown.

Washington believes he and Saab managed a vast corruption network for the benefit of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro by siphoning money from a government food plan meant to help disadvantaged families.

Venezuela's opposition has described Saab as a front for the Maduro regime.

Saab was detained in June as a plane he was traveling in stopped over in Cape Verde.

In August, a lower court there initially approved his extradition to the US, but his lawyers appealed.

Maduro's government has called Saab's arrest arbitrary, and in September it said Saab had suffered mistreatment and torture.

Washington has led international pressure on Maduro's government primarily though sanctions and support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who unsuccessfully tried to unseat the president in 2019.

Maduro is seen in the US as a dictator while Venezuela's opposition accuses him of being a usurper over his controversial re-election in 2018 in voting widely denounced as rigged.

Washington has also hit 15 companies linked to Saab with sanctions.

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