Africa-Press – Angola. The Supreme Court resumed, this Monday, the trial hearing of the former Angolan ambassador to Ethiopia, Arcanjo do Nascimento, accused of the crime of embezzlement, in Case No. 18/20, of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Archangel do Nascimento is accused of embezzlement, passive corruption and money laundering.
During the hearing of the case, which included 15 deponents, Archangel do Nascimento’s successor as ambassador to Ethiopia, Francisco da Cruz, was heard; the current director of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Domingos Coelho; and the former head of the Heritage Department of the General Secretariat of the same institution, Jorge Cabango.
During the hearing, Domingos Coelho stated that the construction company claimed between eight and nine million US dollars in debt, amounts that were fixed at between three and five million dollars, after review.
In turn, Jorge Cabango said he was part of a technical advance team to determine the reasons for the construction company’s complaint, alleging, at the time, a debt owed by the Angolan Government of around seven million dollars.
However, the declarant said he was unaware of whether the Embassy and the Ministry of Finance made the payment of around five (5) million dollars, as well as the existence of an evaluation report requested by Angola from an Ethiopian consultancy company.
Jorge Cabango believes that the initial value of seven million dollars claimed is for the works carried out.
For his part, former ambassador Francisco da Cruz said he found, in 2019, when he took over the diplomatic mission in that country, the works had stopped, despite part of the masonry in an advanced stage of execution.
The diplomat reported that, upon finding out about the status of the work, he came across a claim from the construction company for an outstanding amount of 7.8 million dollars, which, after negotiations, amounted to 5.7 million dollars. dollars.
The diplomat also stated that the total value of the work was estimated at around 25 million dollars and that he found the amount of 7.4 million dollars in the account.
The accusation presented by the public prosecutor, through prosecutor Manuel Dias, points out that the former ambassador, Arcanjo do Nascimento, in the interest of improving the conditions of the Ethiopian mission, decided to build three buildings, namely the chancellery, protocol residence and the official residence for the ambassador representing the Angolan State.
To this end, he adds, the defendant was given certain powers to hire the contractor, estimated at 21 million, 981 thousand, 463 North American dollars (USD) and 22 cents.
The defendant, he stressed, was also granted powers, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, on December 24, 2014, to sign a contract with an Ethiopian construction company, called “A Construções”, whose owner is also a declarant in the process.
The Embassy’s main building included a conference center, nine apartments and offices, with a completion deadline of 24 months, expected to end in May 2017. The two residences were to be delivered in June 2016, in period of 12 months.
After receiving the amount in question, the defendant acquired land worth USD 37,220 for the chancellery, while for the existing property in the space he disbursed the value of USD 217,196, totaling USD 254,516, on a surface of two thousand and 511 square meters.
He then signed a contract to supervise the chancellery’s contract, in November 2014, with the company Energias Angola Limitada l, worth one million 120 thousand and 95 US dollars and 80 cents.
An addendum to the aforementioned contract was signed with the same company, on February 11, 2018, in the amount of 132 thousand and 647 US dollars and 96 cents, for a period of 36 months.
On the same date, it also signed another contract with the company Energias Angola Limitada, to supervise the construction of official protocol residences, worth 518 thousand and 794 dollars and 98 cents valid for a period of 36 months.
Continuing his actions, the defendant, without the knowledge and consent of the construction company, ordered the transfer of the amount of 186 thousand and 700 dollars to the inspection company Energias Limitada for the alleged correction of the project.
According to the records, so far, the project has not been completed because the defendant gave an uncertain destination to the amount of 5 million dollars related to the initial payment, as well as USD 86 thousand and 700 that he removed from the amount that would be allocated to the construction company of the work.
He highlighted that the accounts of the Angolan Embassy in Ethiopia indicate a lack of 15 million 8 thousand and 557 dollars 48 cents.
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