This is one of the facts presented by the Angolan activist and journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, in a criminal complaint against Joel Leonardo, filed this Wednesday at the Attorney General's Office.
The journalist and director of the 'site' Maka Angola said, in his complaint, that the process against the former provincial governor of Luanda for alleged crimes of embezzlement, nepotism, influence peddling, criminal association and money laundering, was archived "in a way not yet publicly clarified" by apparently express order from Joel Leonardo.
According to the complaint filed with the PGR, the president of the Supreme Court (TS) advised and requested secrecy from the presiding judge of the criminal chamber of that judicial instance, Daniel Modesto Geraldes, to put an end to the case.
Judge Daniel Geraldes would have found in the facts contained in the case evidence of the practice of criminal offenses at the time when Higino Carneiro, former deputy and leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, governor of Luanda, between 2016 and 2017.
On August 19, 2021, at a time when the "trio of judges" who would preside over the trial had already been defined, Joel Leonardo decided on an application submitted by Higino Carneiro's defense, ordering the defendant's account to be unblocked.
"It is not understood for what purpose an order of this content appears ("unfreezing" of Higino Carneiro's accounts) by someone who is not the natural judge of the process and has no intervention in it, appearing to be an intervention in favor", wrote Rafael Marques in the complaint to which Lusa had access, questioning the intervention outside the scope of jurisdictional powers "without any legal basis".
The activist also mentioned in the complaint what he says is a "persecution of councilor Agostinho Santos" for the fact that "this magistrate demands transparency" with regard to the appointment of the new president of the National Electoral Commission.
Rafael Marques recalled the disciplinary decision that culminated in the dismissal of this advisory judge, which, however, was suspended when, on March 27, 2023, the Civil, Administrative, Fiscal and Customs Chamber of the TS accepted a challenge filed by Agostinho Santos .
A decision that Joel Leonardo disobeyed through an order dated April 6, 2023, "preventing Agostinhos Santos from exercising his duties, keeping him dismissed".
Rafael Marques also pointed out several public complaints that report an alleged scheme of distribution and sale of properties confiscated by the courts in the context of the fight against corruption, which will allegedly be led by Joel Leonardo.
A set of facts that, he underlined, corresponds to the commission of crimes by a magistrate in the exercise of his functions, "which results in increased gravity", involving crimes of denial of justice, prevarication, massive corruption of a magistrate and abuse of power, added.
