The information was confirmed to Rádio Nacional de Angola by the spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Álvaro João, according to whom the Public Prosecutor's Office has already formulated the charges and sent the case to court for trial, having requested the contradictory instruction.
The four leaders of the Brazilian wing of the UCKG in Angola - Honorilton Gonçalves da Costa, former representative of the UCKG in Angola, Fernando Henriques Teixeira, former director of Record TV Africa, Bishop António Pedro Correia da Silva and Pastor Valdir de Sousa dos Santos - are accused of criminal association and money laundering.
The spokesman of the UCKG Angola, Olívio Alberto said that all of them are in the country, with the exception of António Pedro Correia da Silva, who has been in Brazil "for some time", and stressed that the representatives of the church have not yet been notified so he did not confirm the date of the adversarial instruction requested by the lawyers of the defendants.
The contradictory instruction, an optional phase of the criminal process, can be requested by either party and arises from the disagreement of one of the parties, which aims to obtain a judicial decision that confirms, or not, the indictment or its dismissal.
According to the Angolan authorities, the case stems from the denunciations subscribed by more than 300 members of the UURD, including bishops and pastors, received on December 3, 2019, which gave rise to the opening of a criminal case, and charges have now been brought against the four defendants.
The internal conflict of the UCKG in the country, has divided its members into two wings, one led by Brazilian bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, replaced by Angolan Alberto Segunda in May this year, and the other by Angolan bishop Valente Bezerra.
The disagreements came to light in November 2019, when a group of Angolan dissidents decided to walk away from the Brazilian leadership with several allegations of crimes, namely foreign exchange evasion, racism, mandatory vasectomy practice, among others.
The missionaries of the church created by Brazilian Edir Macedo denied the accusations and also accused the Angolans of xenophobia and aggression.
In the Angolan justice system - after the beginning of disagreements between the parties, aggravated by the forcible taking of temples all over the country - several lawsuits related to the UCKG Angola are underway.
The Reform Commission of Angolan pastors has since been legitimized by the Angolan State, and the new management of the UCKG, headed by Bishop Valente Bezerra, was elected in a general assembly on February 13.
