Africa-Press – Angola. The Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSMJ) considered, this Wednesday, “illegal” the searches carried out by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) at the headquarters of the Supreme Court (TS) and the CSMJ.
Speaking to the press, the CSMJ spokesman, Correia Bartolomeu, said that the institution became aware of diligences, searches and seizures carried out at the TS and CSMJ, ordered by the Public Ministry, which did not observe “the legal formalities”.
The searches are based on complaints published in the press and on social networks, about possible involvement of the presiding judge of the TS and the CSMJ, Joel Leonardo, in acts of corruption and influence peddling.
On the 10th and 13th of March, the PGR launched searches and seizures at the headquarters of the TS and CSMJ, which has already created a working commission to analyze the case.
According to spokesman Correia Bartolomeu, who was speaking on the sidelines of a plenary session of this body, the same steps culminated in the placement of seals in various compartments of the TS and the CSMJ.
In the opinion of the source, “the sub-prosecutor who ordered the act does not have the competence to do so”, warning that it would have to be the Prosecutor of the Republic, exclusively, to order or who replaced him.
“The law does not allow the Attorney General of the Republic to be replaced, when he is absent, by a deputy attorney”, he argued, stressing that there was “non-compliance with the formalities provided for in the law and which must be strictly complied with”.
In view of the seriousness of the act, he continued, the CSMJ decided to create a working commission that is analyzing the matter and hopes to conclude the communiqué.
According to the same, the law dictates that in the event of an act susceptible of disciplinary or criminal responsibility, the public prosecutors and judicial magistrates receive a report, with prior information to the CSMJ.
The spokesman for the CSMJ said, on the other hand, that the information according to which the President of the Supreme Court, Joel Leonardo, is on the run is false.
On the occasion, Correia Bartolomeu expressed the availability of the CSMJ to obey the “duty of cooperation with any institution, as long as it is established in the Constitution and in the Law”.
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