Africa-Press – Angola. Hélder Pitta Gróz, the Attorney General of the Republic, guarantees that there is no slowdown in the process of holding former leaders responsible for corruption during the administration of former President José Eduardo dos Santos.
There is no slowdown in relation to the performance of the PGR”, said the Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Gróz, in an interview.
According to the magistrate, the impression of the supposed slowdown probably arises from the current habit of holding managers accountable for harmful management of the treasury.
“It became notorious, at the time, the criminal responsibility of people, apparently untouchable, creating a positive repercussion in terms of moralization of society”, he said.
Regarding the cases involving Generals Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa”, former Minister of State and head of the Military House, and Leopoldino do Nascimento “Dino”, former Head of Communications, both at the time of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, as well as the deputy and former governor of Cuando Cubango Higino Carneiro, the magistrate guarantees that none of them were shelved.
“In relation to the cases to which he refers, none of these have been filed: some are already in court and others are in the final stage of prosecution”, he underlined.
Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa” and Leopoldino do Nascimento “Dino” were heard by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and constituted defendants in 2020, as there are strong indications that they benefited from the business that the State had with the company China International Found ( CIF), within the scope of the extinct National Reconstruction Office (GNR).
In the same year, Kopelipa and Dino delivered, to the PGR, various goods and companies constituted with public funds. As representatives of the companies China International Fund, Lda (CIF) and Cochan SA, the two generals handed over the cement (CIF Cement), automobile assembly (CIF SGS Automóveis), beer (CIF Lowenda Cervejas) and CIF Logistics, including all equipment and machinery. They also delivered all the shares they held in the company BIOCOM-Companhia de Bioenergia de Angola, Lda., through Cochan SA, the Kero supermarket chain, and the transfer of 90 percent of the shares held by the Zahara Comércio SA group and the company Damer Gráficas – Sociedade Industrial de Artes Gráficas SA.
Both also transferred the ownership to the State’s patrimonial sphere of hundreds of buildings that had already been seized by the PGR in the Zango Zero Centrality, also known as “Pacific Life”, at KK 5000, at different levels of construction, and, in the city of Luanda, the CIF One and CIF Two buildings, including all their equipment.
The deputy and former governor of Cuando Cubango Higino Carneiro was made an accused in 2019, after being heard by the National Directorate of Investigation and Criminal Action (DNIAP), in a process linked to management acts carried out as governor of Luanda, in 2016 and 2017.
The fight against corruption and impunity is one of the pillars of President João Lourenço’s mandate, which began in 2017. Since then, several leaders have been tried and convicted for crimes of embezzlement, money laundering, economic participation in business, active corruption and others. Among the judged and convicted figures, the former president of the Sovereign Fund, José Filomeno dos Santos “Zenu”, son of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, the former governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Valter Filipe, the former Minister of Transport, Augusto Tomás, and the former Minister of Social Communication and general director of the extinct Office for the Revitalization of Institutional Communication and Marketing of the Administration (GRECIMA), Manuel Rabelais.
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