The seventh session of the trial, in which the defendants are Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Júnior “Kopelipa”, Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento (Dino), Fernando Gomes dos Santos, Yiu Haiming and the companies CIF, Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited, was also marked by the absence of a representative of the defendant CIF Angola.
The trial began on March 10 of this year and continued until the preliminary issues, when the court noticed the absence of the accused CIF, who was not represented by a prosecutor or a public defender.
From that time onwards, the court requested the company and the State to send representatives, but without success.
This Tuesday, two representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the State Institute for Asset and Share Management (IGAPE) appeared in court to clarify doubts about who currently owns the corporate interests and assets of the CIF universe.
The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce confirmed the receipt, by delivery term, of assets “voluntarily handed over to the State” to that ministerial department responsible for industrial policy.
According to the director of the legal office of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Gilberto Dilo, four properties, three of which are industrial and one a logistics center, are under state supervision as part of the asset recovery process.
When asked by the judge whether the companies are in the hands of the State, Gilberto Dilo clarified that “the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is not a shareholder in the company CIF”.
“The assets under his responsibility belonged to shareholders, who transferred them based on the agreement signed with the State,” he explained.
In turn, the IGAPE representative stated that the institution “does not have any equity interest belonging to the company [CIF]”.
In statements to the press, the defense attorney for generals “Kopelipa” and “Dino”, João Gourgel, said that the hearing served only to resolve the issue of the representation of the company CIF, whose industrial assets were handed over to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
“The representatives came to say that they only received the assets and did not receive the equity interests. Since they did not receive the equity interests, which is their point of view, they are neither partners nor representatives,” he stressed.
João Gourgel said that the defense understands that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce received both the shareholdings and the corresponding assets.
“We have documents that prove beyond any doubt that the company IF [Financial Investments] was handed over, representing 60 percent of CIF’s share capital and the assets corresponding to that 60 percent. At the appropriate time, we will show the documents we have in our possession,” he said.
In turn, lawyer Benja Satula, representing Utter and Plansmart, regretted the court's stance that gave the floor to the Public Prosecutor's Office to speak, without proceeding in the same way with the defense.
“The Constitution recommends that the court must respect the adversarial principle and the entire Code of Criminal Procedure states that the hearing is adversarial. Whenever the Public Prosecutor's Office is given the floor, the court must, under equal conditions, give the floor to the defense,” he stressed.
Benja Satula said that it makes no sense to notify institutions that appear in court to say that they have nothing to do with the matter and asked: “If they are not owners, why do they sell, hire, move accounts?”
Last month, the Government auctioned five companies, namely the CIF Cement Factory, the CIF Logistics Center, the Beer Factory (CIF Lowenda) and the CIF Automobile Assembly Unit.
The reporting judge Anabela Valente said that, after several unsuccessful notifications to the CIF, publications will be made in notices and, if the defendant CIF is not present, the trial will continue in absentia.
The co-defendants are accused of the crimes of embezzlement, fraud through defraudation, document forgery, criminal association, abuse of power, money laundering and influence peddling.
The next trial session has been rescheduled for the 26th of this month.
