In a short information note, distributed to the press Thursday at the end of the day, the Supreme Court says that three passports were given to José Filomeno dos Santos, also known as Zenu dos Santos, son of José Eduardo dos Santos, the former president, one ordinary and two diplomatic.
According to the delivery term issued by the Judicial Secretariat of the Full Court and Appeals, Zenu dos Santos appeared in person at that instance to collect his passports, "having signed the delivery term".
In 2020, the son of former President José Eduardo dos Santos was sentenced, as part of the well-known "500 million dollars" case, for the crime of fraud, in a continuous form, to four years in prison and for the crime of influence peddling in a continuous form to two years in prison, in a cumulative sentence of five years.
The case dates back to 2017, when an irregular transfer of 500 million dollars was made from the National Bank of Angola (BNA) to the account of a private foreign company based in London, to set up a strategic investment fund and finance structural projects in Angola, an amount that has since been recovered by the Angolan State.
In the same case, the court also sentenced the former governor of the BNA, Valter Filipe, a manager of the Angolan central bank, António Bule, and a businessman and long-time friend of José Filomeno dos Santos, Jorge Gaudens Sebastião.
The defense appealed this sentence, through several appeals, one of which, in April 2024, the Constitutional Court responded by declaring the unconstitutionality of the ruling that convicted Zenu dos Santos and also Valter Filipe da Silva.
The Constitutional Court considered that the process was riddled with "violations of the constitutional principles of legality, adversarial proceedings, fair trial and the right to defense".
In turn, the Supreme Court indicated that "the unconstitutionalities raised in the appeal to the Constitutional Court are duly purged", followed by a new extraordinary appeal of unconstitutionality made by the defense.
However, in January of this year, José Filomeno dos Santos benefited from a presidential pardon granted to convicted Angolan citizens, which José Eduardo dos Santos' son refused, considering that he did not commit a crime and was acquitted by the Constitutional Court.
A source at the Supreme Court told Lusa that "when the penal framework ends, in this case, through a pardon, all measures are lifted".
