In a note released after an extraordinary session of this body held on Monday, the CSMJ says it has become aware of "research, search and seizure procedures, carried out in the buildings of the Supreme Court and the CSMJ ordered by the Public Ministry, without the legal formalities had been observed".
The case was reported on Friday by the Club-K website, according to which financial searches were carried out, information that Lusa tried to confirm with the PGR without obtaining answers.
According to Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), which cites a source from the PGR, the steps were aimed at the lock of the office of the President Judge Joel Leonardo, "considered a millionaire", and the PGR technicians were prevented from carrying out their work by, allegedly, not having authorization.
Joel Leonardo has been the target of accusations in the press and on social networks, including millionaire payments to family member companies, including one million kwanzas for changing a lock, made by a company linked to a nephew.
Neither the PGR nor the Supreme Court officially commented on the suspicions.
In the press release, the CSJM, the body responsible for the management and discipline of judicial magistrates which, like the Supreme Court, is presided over by Joel Leonardo, reaffirms its "duty of cooperation with any institution as long as it is established in the Constitution and in the law".
The CSJM underlines that the courts "are sovereign bodies", so any steps are subject "to certain legal formalities that must be strictly complied with".
"Given the seriousness of the act, the CSMJ decided to create a working commission that will analyze the matter within 48 hours", concludes the statement.
Club-K advances that Joel Leonardo will have created obstacles to the work of PGR technicians, claiming that "for his level — quality of president of the Supreme Court —, the document would have to be signed by the attorney general himself, Hélder Fernando Pitta Grós, invoking equalization of hierarchy".
During the course of the work, some rooms were sealed off, such as accounting and the CSMJ's executive secretary, but the PGR technicians did not know exactly which Joel Leonardo's office was, since the employees were instructed not to give information, reveals Club-K.
