The buildings in question are located in the Vida Pacífica urbanization (Zango/Viana) and which were allegedly wrongly cited as being part of the State's land reserve and built with public funds, which is disputed by the defense.
The complaint that gave rise to the proceedings was filed in 2020 with the Attorney General's Office (PGR) by the then Minister of Territorial Planning and Housing and current Minister of the Environment, Ana Paula Chantre Luna de Carvalho.
According to documentation to which Lusa had access, the minister reported to the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, an "alleged usurpation" of housing units built under the National Urban Planning and Housing Program (PNUH), with public funds, on State land.
According to this communication, CIF had built 47 buildings in Vida Pacífica, of which 24 were occupied in a process coordinated by SONIP (a company in the Sonangol group) and the remaining 23 were "technically and administratively abandoned".
The minister also warned that 837 houses and 271 buildings were found in different stages of construction, with work halted, and emphasized that CIF had requested the granting of surface rights 'a posteriori' on public lands.
The same note indicated that the constructions were carried out without the proper licensing and that the companies involved were the same ones that participated in the construction of state-owned properties. Based on these elements, the executive ordered the use of legal mechanisms to recover the assets and revert them to the state.
However, a source from the generals' defense team claims that there was "a mistake", claiming that the properties mentioned in the minister's complaint are not in the same location as those actually built by CIF.
"Even if that were the case, there would be prevalence of rights already acquired by CIF", argues the same source, according to which none of the witnesses heard so far corroborated the thesis that these buildings are public.
"Not even the Public Prosecutor's Office brought any documentary or other evidence to this effect to the case", he added.
The trial of the generals has been taking place since March 2024, behind closed doors, by decision of the judge in the case, who prohibited the presence of journalists during the evidence production phase.
The case is being heard in the Supreme Court, and until 27 June, several figures linked to the State and the former structure of Sonangol and the Ministry of Housing have been heard, including Ana Paula Chantre Luna de Carvalho, Carlos Feijó (jurist and former Minister of State and Chief of Staff of José Eduardo dos Santos), Ernesto Garcia (former director of the Private Investment Technical Unit who supervised and coordinated large investment projects in the government of José Eduardo dos Santos) and Francisco de Lemos José Maria (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sonangol, appointed after the departure of Manuel Vicente), among others.
The hearings are taking place at a rate of three sessions per week, with a new session scheduled for this Monday.
Dino and Kopelipa, both figures close to former President José Eduardo dos Santos, are charged with crimes such as embezzlement, influence peddling and money laundering, among others.
"Kopelipa", former head of the Angolan secret service, "Dino", and five other defendants, including three companies, are being tried in a case involving the Angolan subsidiary of China International Fund (CIF), Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited, allegedly used by the defendants to set up a scheme that defrauded the Angolan state of millions of dollars, involving a financing agreement between Angola and China to support national reconstruction, after the civil war that ended in 2002.
In 2020, the two former strongmen of José Eduardo dos Santos had to hand over to the state several companies and buildings owned by CIF and Cochan, S.A., including cement and beer factories, a supermarket chain and residential buildings.
The former vice-president of the Republic and former leader of Sonangol, Manuel Vicente, is not among the accused, and his name is also absent from the list of more than 30 witnesses, despite being mentioned in the proceedings, within the scope of his links with CIF.
