The lawyers filed a new request for release and for 'habeas corpus' at the end of last year and accuse Angola of "total disrespect" for the law for maintaining the businessman's preventive detention, after all legal deadlines have expired.
According to the defense, the first three requests for 'habeas corpus' were rejected in the first instance in which they were placed and the last one has not yet been answered.
The first three requests for release were also rejected, while the two most recent, one based on excessive preventive detention and the other due to the worsening health condition of Carlos São Vicente, "a carrier of a serious illness" and with a high risk of contracting covid-19" await the court's response.
"Despite the submission of several requests for release and the entry of a 'Habeas Corpus' order on November 23, 2021 (the day on which Carlos São Vicente should have been released for having exceeded the maximum legal period of pre-trial detention) , and the law imposes a maximum period of five working days for the decision of the 'Habeas Corpus', what is certain is that, so far, and after more than 30 days, the Angolan judicial authorities have not issued any decision" , say the lawyers in a note sent to Lusa.
The businessman, owner of AAA Seguros, is accused of several crimes, including tax fraud continued for five years, with amounts in excess of one billion dollars, embezzlement and continuous money laundering.
The lawyers argue that the arrest is "illegal" because the deadlines provided for in the law have been exceeded, and consider that not knowing the date of the businessman's trial violates "the most elementary human rights, such as the right to life, to liberty, to the presumption of innocence and to a justice that grants citizens treatment as equals".
They also underline the "indifference" of the Angolan judicial authorities to the law, according to which no one can be arrested without trial after a period of 12 months, which ended, in this case, on September 22, 2021, and which was extended until 22 of November 2021, "claiming a process of special complexity", add the lawyers.
According to the indictment, the businessman, who for almost two decades had the monopoly of insurance and reinsurance by the Angolan state oil company Sonangol, will have set up a triangular scheme, with companies in Angola, London and Bermuda, which generated losses for the Angolan treasury, in fiscal terms, in an amount above 1.2 billion dollars (more than one billion euros).
The Angolan judicial authorities ordered the seizure of assets and bank accounts belonging to businessman Carlos de São Vicente, and the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Angola also requested the freezing of bank accounts and the seizure of assets of Irene Neto, daughter of the first Angolan president. Agostinho Neto, and the businessman's wife.
