Trial of businessman Carlos São Vicente begins in Luanda after postponement

The beginning of the trial of Carlos São Vicente, detained since September 2020 in the Comarca de Viana, would start on 26 January, but was postponed to this Friday due to the "late notification" to the defendant, as he justified, at the time, the judge in the case, Edson Escrivão.

Money laundering, tax fraud, involving amounts in excess of one billion euros, and embezzlement are the crimes attributed to Carlos São Vicente, married to Irene Neto, daughter of the first president, António Agostinho Neto.

Frenchman François Zimeray, one of São Vicente's lawyers, recently criticized his client's detention, especially his "excessive preventive detention", hoping, however, that justice would be done.

According to the indictment, the businessman, who for almost two decades had the insurance and reinsurance monopoly of the Angolan state oil company Sonangol, would 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 in excess of one billion dollars.

The businessman's wife, Irene Neto, a member of the central committee of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, regretted, on 26 January, the physical condition of Carlos São Vicente, admitting that he "has lost a lot of weight".

The judicial authorities ordered the seizure of assets and bank accounts belonging to the businessman, owner of AAA Seguros, and the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Angola also requested the freezing of bank accounts and the seizure of Irene Neto's assets.