Africa-Press – Angola. The Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Groz, confirmed this Monday in Luanda that the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) issued an international arrest warrant against businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the PGR Council meeting, he referred that the institution is working with INTERPOL (International Police), which had the mission of disseminating the warrant in all member states of the organization.
“In Angola we have an INTERPOL representation, where this documentation was delivered, which followed all the necessary procedures to the INTERPOL headquarters, which will be disseminated to all countries that are part of this organization”, he said. the PGR gave businesswoman Isabel dos Santos several opportunities for her to respond to notifications: “We sent several notifications and none were answered. After four years with the process at a standstill, we decided as a last resort to issue the warrant”.
Hélder Pitta Groz said that the institution has had contact with the businesswoman’s lawyers, but that in criminal cases the interrogation should be done to people and not to lawyers. The prosecutor denied the statements made by the businesswoman, according to which the PGR was never available to hear her.
The Attorney General of the Republic clarified that in 2018 there was an attempt to notify the citizen Isabel dos Santos at her home: “she was received by her employee and she was at home, she did not accept or sign the notification and days later left the country.” He explained that several notifications were made and were delivered either to the lawyers’ office or to companies where the businesswoman had some relationship (UNITEL and ZAP) and there was no response to the notifications.
Hélder Pitta Groz informed that, in April of this year, the businesswoman was in the Netherlands and the PGR was aware of her stay in that country, taking into account the good relations with the Dutch entities, and sent a Rogatory Letter so that Isabel dos Santos was notified by the Dutch authorities. “She was located, but she refused to sign the notification, let alone be interrogated, and immediately left the country,” she said.
He made it known that the PGR is preparing the final balance of the anti-corruption strategy that it intends to publish by December. The magistrate stressed that this document will contain what was done during the five years of combating corruption.
Proceedings of former Vice-President Manuel Vicente
As for the judicial process involving former Vice-President Manuel Vicente, the Attorney General of the Republic said that the PGR is working on the process so that it follows the legal procedures.
“We had five years in which we could not move forward, because it was protected by law, but now it is being worked normally. Let’s hope that the steps continue to be carried out”, said Hélder Pitta Groz.
He highlighted the good relations that Angola has with countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, where the country’s money exists: “We have good relations with these countries and we have money in banks in those countries that is seized, but we are waiting for a court ruling to be able to go to these countries to know the sentences and then we deal with the recovery of the values and goods that are there”, he stressed.
Board Meeting
The Deputy Attorney General and National Director of Organization, Planning and Statistics of the Attorney General’s Office, Gilberto Mizalaque, explained that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the PGR, held yesterday, analyzed the dynamics and institutional organization, periodicity on issues of organization and functioning of all organs of the PGR.
This meeting of the Board of Directors, he added, has a special feature, due to the fact that all the holders of bodies at national level have been brought to Luanda. The coordinators of the PGR regions, namely, East, Centre, South, Luanda, Cabinda and Bengo and the coordinators of the Public Ministry in the Courts of Appeal of Luanda, Benguela and Huíla, participate. The idea, he continued, is to take stock of the activities and plan the actions for the next year.
The deputy attorney general recalled that there are bodies that started to function this year, namely the Courts of Luanda, Benguela and Huíla and the Public Ministry in these Courts has some challenges that must be presented at this meeting and that go beyond the questions that arise about the functioning of these organs.
Gilberto Mizalaque stated that the PGR, in partnership with the Courts, Ministry of the Interior, AGT and Fiscal Police, is holding a seminar today at the National Institute of Judicial Studies to analyze the issue of preparatory and procedural instruction in the light of the new legal framework- criminal. For Gilberto Mizalaque, the country has a new Penal Code and, therefore, it is urgent that justice operators begin to analyze what is being done, how it is being done and articulate, above all, the understanding of these diplomas.
The Attorney General of the Republic also announced that Angola will host in December the 19th Meeting of Attorneys General of the CPLP and of Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea to address, among other issues, the role of the Public Ministry in environmental protection. The force lines of this event were launched at the meeting of the PGR’s management bodies, which ended yesterday. At the meeting, the prosecutors analyzed, among other matters, the institution’s role, organization and functioning, as well as the projection for the coming times.
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