During the final allegations, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) asked that the prison sentences to be imposed on Valter Filipe, former governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), should not be less than 10 years. For "Zenu" dos Santos, the MP asked that the sentence should not be less than seven years.
For the defendants António Bule Manuel, BNA administrator, and Jorge Gaudens Sebastião, a businessman, the deputy attorney general also requested sentences of no less than seven and 10 years in prison respectively.
The MP also requested that the defendants pay compensation to the State.
The MP, which maintained its initial thesis of the indictment, requested the conviction of all the defendants, considering that it was proved their intention to rent money from the Angolan State, because "taking advantage of their qualities and functions acted in a conscious, voluntary and concerted manner".
According to Pascoal Joaquim, deputy attorney general of the Republic, "even knowing that their conduct was illicit," the defendants "did not refrain from practicing it, as they aimed at all costs to achieve the ends that pointed to the appropriation of public money, a fact that was underlying the evidence collected.
The Deputy General Prosecutor also stated that the defendants granted themselves ownership of the sums transferred, with the swift signing of an agreement of trust in which they deprived the BNA of the possibility of claiming the sums.
For the prosecutor, the defendants Valter Filipe and António Bule Manuel, when they passed on the idea of the existence of a bank syndicate, which would support the creation of a strategic investment fund for Angola worth 30 billion euros, "knowing that it did not exist", committed, in material co-authorship, the crime of fraud for defrauding, as well as embezzlement.
The defendants Jorge Gaudens Sebastião and José Filomeno "Zenu" dos Santos, former president of the Sovereign Fund of Angola and son of the former Angolan President, José Eduardo dos Santos, "by presenting a forged letter of intent and creating the false idea of a bank syndicate," according to the Public Prosecutor, committed in moral and material co-authorship, in a consummate and continued form, the crime of fraud for defrauding, as well as trafficking of influence and money laundering.
The Deputy Attorney General of the Republic considered that the recovery of the amounts does not remove the illegality of the conduct of the defendants, because there was consummation of the facts.
The MP also asked the court not to consider the letter in which the former President, José Eduardo dos Santos, confirmed that he authorized Valter Filipe to carry out the transfer of the $500 million, because the condition of former head of state does not grant him the privilege of making statements outside the circuit established by law.
"The letter in reply is nothing more than a paper cutout with an inscription and a content whose evidential value is called into question, since it is not an original letter, being a copy eventually received by scanned, from the subscriber to an institution in his portfolio, which, in turn, sent it to the venerable court and therefore raises doubts," said Pascoal Joaquim.
The defence has already requested the acquittal of the defendants. Valter Filipe's lawyer, Sergio Raimundo, said this Tuesday that the MP should ask for the "extinction of MPLA".
"By the way it is publicly exposed that the transfer was illicit, and not be where they got this version, insinuating until President José Eduardo dos Santos was the head of the gang, then, is what I have said: if the Public Prosecutor is really serious and has consistency, then it should request the extinction of MPLA, because it is considering that MPLA is a criminal organization, even because José Eduardo dos Santos is the president emeritus of MPLA," said the defense of the former governor of the BNA, cited by OPaís.
As for the devaluation of the former president's letter, Sérgio Raimundo questioned this position: "Devaluation for what? He is alive, he is there, if anyone has doubts that ask if he wrote it". "This just shows how things work in Angola, they go with the wind of each day. These same people, if José Eduardo were President of the Republic, would not be talking the nonsense we are hearing here, but as he is no longer President of the Republic today, people already have the courage to talk like that. And many of them were even nominated by José Eduardo dos Santos, not by me", he added.
The accused lamented that, during the various trial sessions, it was "more around peripheral issues", instead of the accusation supporting his version, worrying more about verifying whether the legal formalities and procedures to proceed with this transfer or the signing of these contracts were fulfilled.
According to Sérgio Raimundo, it was proved in the sessions that the 500 million dollars did not leave the sphere of the State, since the contract signed for the structuring of the strategic fund provided for the return of the values.
The lawyer pointed out that one cannot claim embezzlement in the consummate form, because the money was not used by any of the defendants and was deposited in a trust account.
The final allegations in this case were scheduled to take place on 25 March, however the trial was eventually postponed after the situation of the covid-19 pandemic worsened in the country.
