"Without prejudice to the detected facts not compromising the normal functioning of the General Tax Administration, the Ministry of Finance will order an audit of the systems, processes and procedures in use at AGT", reads a note sent to Lusa, in which it is stated that it will be provided "full cooperation to the investigation and law enforcement bodies".
The investigation is into a fraudulent Value Added Tax (VAT) refund scheme, which is believed to have defrauded the public purse of at least seven billion kwanzas involving senior tax administration officials, three of whom are under arrest, it was announced this Friday morning.
"Within the scope of the ongoing process related to irregularities identified in the AGT tax payment system, guided by and reaffirming this Ministerial Department's commitment to good governance, transparency and legality, we guarantee full collaboration with the regulatory bodies investigation and application of the law to fully clarify the facts and hold any offenders accountable", the statement states, in which it is guaranteed that the functioning of the tax authority was not affected.
The Treasury's statement comes on the same day that the arrest of three more tax officials was announced.
According to the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC), the administrator for the VAT, strategic planning and information technology departments, the director of registration and collection and the head of the VAT refund department were arrested on Thursday.
They are accused of the crimes of illegitimate access to an information system, computer fraud, criminal association and embezzlement, "substantiated by strong evidence of their involvement in the fraudulent scheme of payments for compensation, in relation to the refund of VAT", says the SIC in press release released this Friday morning.
The SIC highlights that the scheme was constructed by tax officials from different areas and functions, who took advantage of these privileges to carry out "several fraudulent deals".
The detainees will be presented to the Public Prosecutor's Office, while other investigations continue, adds the SIC.
The investigation into these irregularities had previously led to the arrest of two officials, and other suspects fled to Portugal and other countries.
