The news is advanced by the Presidency of the Republic's own Facebook page, which makes it known that the head of state received the law for the new Penal Code of the Republic of Angola a few days ago for promulgation and this Tuesday sent a message to the President of the National Assembly. letter to share "reflections and concerns" about the diploma, even asking for a review of some of its provisions before promulgating it.
According to the communiqué, the issues raised by the President of the Republic have to do with the rescue of the values of probity in the exercise of public functions and the national commitment to preventing and combating corruption at all levels.
In his reading of the diploma approved by the deputies, the Head of State considers that "the perspective presented by the new Penal Code may not be in line with the current vision and convey an equivocal message regarding crimes committed in the exercise of public functions".
It states in particular that "Articles 357 and following, in particular crimes of economic participation in business, influence peddling and corruption in the political sector, obeying the general guidelines of the reform of criminal policy that influenced its making, paradoxically tend to establish less severe sanctions than those provided for in the Penal Code still in force ".
The President of the Republic, in his letter, argues that "the prevention of crime and the preventive defense of high social values" requires that a clear message of the commitment of the State, public servants be transmitted to society in general, at the legislative level. and of each of its citizens with the fight against corruption, impunity and other illegal manifestations that integrate the concept of "white collar" crime.
The other reason that led the Head of State to request the National Assembly to review the Penal Code is related to the Environment, an area for which he believes it is essential to introduce a "sufficiently inhibitory" approach to the corresponding crimes.
In the letter delivered this Tuesday to Parliament it can be read that "the defense of the Environment - increasingly important and necessary for the present and the future of the planet, both for human beings and for other species - may also deserve a more balanced treatment between the extent of the damage, in most cases collective, the liability of the agent and the potential for repair.
The approach that the President of the Republic defends for the new Penal Code fits better - the letter refers - to the objectives sought by the Paris Agreement, which Angola is preparing to accept in its legal order, and the international dynamics on the matter.
