Leaving the first session of the trial, which lasted almost six hours, three of which were dedicated to the exhaustive reading of the 223-page indictment, Benja Satula, who represents the Chinese companies Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited in this case, considered that the trial “started badly” because the preliminary questions were not presented and admitted that “there are inexplicable things”.
“They were able to hear the accusation, they were able to follow the unfolding of events and they realized that there are things that are inexplicable,” he replied, when asked by Lusa whether the defense found it strange that Manuel Vicente was not in the position of accused, witness or declarant.
Without mentioning the name of the former president of Sonangol, Benja Satula considered that the Public Prosecutor's Office “should do its job better”, as well as the court, which, in the investigation, “had the spectacular opportunity to do a better job” and did not do so.
“It will not be up to us, but clearly the press, critical and prudent as it is, knows, in fact, that there are things that are inexplicable in the process,” he commented.
Asked whether the defendants' defense attorneys could request that Manuel Vicente be heard, he commented that "many documents were handed over and several witnesses were listed", including people linked to Sonangol at the time of the events, including Manuel Vicente.
It is up to the Court to notify witnesses “and encourage efforts and diligence to ensure that they are present at the trial hearing”, he added.
The companies, alongside generals Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Júnior "Kopelipa" and Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento “Dino”, close to former president José Eduardo dos Santos (now deceased), lawyer Fernando Gomes dos Santos and Yiu Haiming are accused of committing the crimes of embezzlement, fraud by defrauding, document forgery, criminal association, abuse of power, money laundering and influence peddling.
The session was marked, at the beginning, by a debate between the defense of General “Dino”, who wanted to present preliminary questions before the reading of the accusation and the indictment, and the Public Prosecutor's Office, who wanted to proceed with the reading of the documents, which the judge accepted.
“It is the first time that it will happen this way, but let it be as the venerable court understands”, commented Benja Satula.
The lawyer stressed that this “is not a corruption process” but rather “acts that were carried out in the name of a special context of the State, with companies, with identified entities, with all acts well documented”.
And he insisted, from the point of view of the assessment of preliminary issues, that the Court could “have an opportunity to review, to redirect and to focus the judgment in the right direction”, which he hopes to achieve in the second session, scheduled for Tuesday.
Benja Satula insisted that preliminary issues should have been discussed before the procedural documents were read.
“If the preliminary issues were discussed, we would save the court, we would save the information and we would pass on better information to the community. It didn't happen for strange reasons (…), because, in fact, I have never seen, in all my experience, that the reading of the main pieces is done before the preliminary issues are discussed, which can imply nullities for fundamental issues that are in the process”, he declared.
The case, which has 38 declarants and witnesses, revolves around the reconstruction of Angola after the civil war and Chinese financing worth billions of dollars, with Sonangol and subsidiaries of China International Fund (CIF) in Angola and Hong Kong central to the operations.
Large sums of money were allegedly diverted by companies linked to the two generals and to Manuel Vicente, former president of the oil company Sonangol and former vice-president of the Republic, who was also in the sights of the Portuguese justice system.
In exchange for the financing, the Chinese companies received shipments of oil, but many payments never reached the accounts of Sonangol and the State, which, in turn, ended up paying twice for the same urbanizations, according to the lengthy indictment, which details the many millions involved in the China-Angola business between 2003 and 2014, when the financial crisis paralyzed many works.
The two former strongmen of José Eduardo dos Santos ended up having to hand over to the State several companies and buildings owned by CIF and Cochan, S.A., including cement and beer factories, a supermarket chain and residential buildings.
Manuel Vicente, on the other hand, is the target of a process about which little is known and which has progressed very slowly.
