According to documents consulted this Tuesday by Lusa, the first preliminary hearing will take place in the Federal Court of the United States, in the southern district of New York, from 3:45pm on 30 October.
The preliminary hearing will determine, before the prosecution and defense, whether the case is even going to trial, clarifying the nature of the lawsuit, the reason the case is located in the jurisdiction of the southern district of New York, the collection of evidence and the estimated duration of the possible trial.
This is a civil liability action in which the Republic of Angola, the Ministry of Energy and Water (MINEA), the Ministry of Finance (MINFIN), the Public Company of Electricity Production (ENDE) and the National Company of Electricity Distribution (PRODEL) are accused of termination of contracts, violations of international law, illegal expropriation and illicit enrichment.
The lawsuit was filed by the company Aenergy, of the Portuguese businessman Ricardo Leitão Machado, and its subsidiary Combined Cycle Power Plant Soyo SA, against the five "defendants of Angola", as they are called in the document, and three corporations General Electric (GE), former commercial partner of the accuser.
The plaintiff company is seeking monetary compensation of at least 550 million dollars and the payment of compensation.
The register of documents relating to the case, consulted by Lusa, indicates that General Electric has already been represented by lawyers before the judge, Alison Julie Nathan, while there is still no record of the presence of representatives of the defendants from Angola.
According to dispatch certificates, the US Federal Court sent copies of the indictment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ENDE and PRODEL on June 9.
Aenergy has been involved in a dispute with Angola since the Angolan executive last year terminated several contracts with the company alleging breach of trust due to alleged irregularities, accusations which the company rejects.
In Aenergy's initial indictment before the New York Federal Court, submitted on 7 May, the entire set of "Angolan defendants" are charged with eight crimes, including two crimes of contract termination, one of illicit enrichment, two of violation of international law (physical and intangible property) and one of illegal expropriation.
In addition, the lawsuit brings two charges against all the entities involved: complicity in the crime of illegal expropriation, and failure to pay or account for "stolen property and profits made".
According to the indictment, General Electric is to be held responsible for "covering the manufacture and improper use of false documents" and for incriminating the Aenergy company.
The case concerns 13 contracts signed between Aenergy and MINEA in 2017 for the construction, expansion, requalification, operation and maintenance of power plants in Angola.
With a value of 1.1 billion dollars, the contracts "contemplated that Aenergy would buy and use GE products manufactured in the United States to build, operate and maintain power plants in Angola, and that Aenergy would sell and install eight new GE turbines for use by PRODEL, ENDE and MINEA," reads the indictment.
In December 2019, the Angolan Attorney General's Office announced that it had filed a precautionary order against Aenergy for "indications of breaches" of contracts and seized four electric turbines allegedly "acquired with public funds without the knowledge of the Ministry of Energy and Water.
Judge Alison Julie Nathan was special assistant to former U.S. President Barack Obama, an advisor to the U.S. Attorney General and became a judge in the Federal Court in 2011.
