The aforementioned assets and monetary values recovered are the result of actions by the PGR and criminal police bodies within the scope of the fight against corruption and economic-financial crime, indicated the Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Grós.
According to the public prosecutor, in the field of economic-financial crime, corruption and related crimes, 565 cases were investigated and 202 cases were reported in 2024.
Corruption, embezzlement, tax fraud, drug trafficking, human trafficking, environmental damage, trafficking in precious minerals, smuggling of petroleum products, computer scams, illegal exploitation of virtual games, illegitimate access to information systems and cryptocurrency mining led the most common types of crimes in this period.
Pitta Grós highlighted that cryptocurrency mining – a practice that has resulted in the seizure of various electronic devices and the arrest of several citizens, mainly Asians – is a recent phenomenon that has worried the authorities.
A phenomenon that is "worrying because it is a privileged vehicle for money laundering and causes serious damage to the electricity production and distribution system in our country", said the PGR in a speech at the solemn opening ceremony of the Judicial Year 2025.
He also considered that the investigation of economic-financial crime and corruption poses challenges to formal control bodies, especially because their agents take maximum advantage of information and communication technologies, the mobility of people and capital, financial transactions via internet banking and the existence of financial markets considered tax havens.
"Therefore, the fight is carried out at a national level, but the crimes and their surroundings always have an almost international dimension", he noted, defending, therefore, "urgency" in the elaboration and approval in the country of a legal regime for electronic evidence in criminal proceedings.
He argued that digital evidence is gradually assuming a leading position in the field of evidentiary law, "not only in the investigation of cybercrime, where it is essential, but especially in so-called traditional crimes, since, today, everything that is done on a physical level leaves a digital footprint".
Hélder Pitta Grós argued, on the other hand, that crime-fighting bodies need Angola to adhere to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), "an indispensable instrument not only in the fight against cybercrime, but also in the acquisition of electronic evidence for most processes".
Regarding the challenges of Justice, the PGR understands that the country needs to improve the quality of justice, which implies, he noted, speed, efficiency, modernization, commitment and appreciation of civil servants.
He also expressed concern about situations of violation of children's rights, especially the avoidance of paternity and other vulnerable groups in society, admitting that the modernization of judicial services will contribute significantly to improving the processing and speed of proceedings.
The president of the Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office also said he was concerned about the increase in cases of minors in conflict with the law, when the country does not have a single specialized internment and re-education center.
"It is our obligation to call for the recovery and functionality of the center in Zango (degraded and inoperative) and the construction of others throughout the country, so that tomorrow we do not face the effect of increased crime", concluded Pitta Grós.
