Ver Angola

Defense

Hélder Pitta Grós: absence of Isabel dos Santos from Angola makes investigations difficult

The Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Grós, said this Thursday that the absence of the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos from the country is hampering the progress of the ongoing processes against the businesswoman.

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"The process is in a criminal investigation phase, which is a secret phase, so we only share it with lawyers, when necessary, and work is being done internally, it is not ethical for us to be disclosing procedural documents or acts", said the prosecutor to Lusa in São Tomé and Príncipe, where he attended the inauguration of the new Public Ministry building.

Asked about the delay in investigations into the businesswoman and daughter of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, the attorney general replied: "The delay in terms of a definitive result is, on the one hand, the complexity and grandeur of the process, and for her [Isabel dos Santos] is not in Angola, this also creates some difficulties".

The process, he added: "is not dead, is alive, and we are getting more and more evidence to consolidate the final piece of the process".

Hélder Pitta Grós spoke to Lusa in São Tomé and Príncipe, on the sidelines of a public ceremony, in which Angola was praised for its various reforms, namely in the justice sector.

"It is good to see the work we have done in Angola recognized, we have much more to do than what has already been done, but it is an incentive to see that there is an external recognition that we are working and on the right path, and this allows us to mobilize other forces to support us in this fight," said the prosecutor.

Asked about the recent news that reports an investigation linked to the purchase of two buildings by the Ministry of Transport from a childhood friend of the minister, for the value of almost 100 million euros, Pitta Grós confirmed an investigation, but devalued the case, pointing out that there are many inquiries that come to nothing.

"We do not disclose the work done in the investigation, because we can, before the criminal investigation, we have to reach the end of the preliminary investigation carried out by the national directorate for the prevention and fight against corruption, and only at the end, when there is evidence or facts that could be considered crimes , we move on to the second phase, which is the criminal process", explained the prosecutor.

"At this procedural stage, the victims are not even questioned, there are investigations that are initiated and then end up being shelved because we do not find evidence of crimes, we have to wait for the investigation to be concluded to see if we will move on to the second phase of initiation of proceedings- crime and then people are notified of their status as defendants", he added, concluding: "Every day we initiate investigation processes, but not all of them end up in criminal proceedings".

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), which includes several media outlets, including Expresso and SIC, analyzed, over several months, 356 gigabytes of data relating to Isabel dos Santos' business between 1980 and 2018, which help rebuild the path that led the daughter of the former Angolan president to become the richest woman in Africa, releasing the main findings in early 2020.

During the investigation, more than 400 companies (and their subsidiaries) were identified to which Isabel dos Santos was linked in the last three decades, including 155 Portuguese and 99 Angolan companies.

The Angolan businesswoman reacted to the disclosure, considering that the investigation is based on "false documents and information", in a "political attack" coordinated with the Angolan Government.

"The ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalism] news is based on many false documents and false information, it is a political attack coordinated in coordination with the 'Angolan Government' (sic). 715 thousand documents read? Who believes that? ", the businesswoman reacted, in English, through her Twitter account, on the same day the news was released, adding "#icij #liars".

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