According to a note from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Angola to the United Nations in Geneva, the request was made by the director of the National Asset Recovery Service of the Attorney General's Office of Angola, Eduarda Rodrigues Neto, who on Friday met with the judicial authorities of the Swiss Confederation in Bern and delivered a letter rogatory in this case.
The meeting served to "discuss the strategy of international cooperation in the context of ongoing processes in Angola, whose funds are illegally deposited in bank accounts in that European country," the note adds.
Among other issues, the process of the 900 million dollars "illegally deposited in the bank account of Angolan citizen Carlos Manuel de São Vicente" was discussed, as well as "other processes that also involve senior national officials of the State Administration who, in a criminal manner, transferred public funds outside our country, seriously damaging the interests of the Angolan State".
Eduarda Neto, who is also Sub-Procureadora Geral da República de Angola, "took advantage of the moment to strengthen the collaboration already existing between the two institutions in this matter," emphasizes the statement.
With the delivery of another request for legal assistance "is in progress the progressive development of another episode that has been hotly debated internationally and that has overshadowed the efforts of the Angolan government in the fight against corruption, money laundering, embezzlement and economic participation in business, as well as the persistence of trafficking of influence in Angola," add the press services of the Permanent Mission.
On Tuesday, the National Asset Recovery Service of the Attorney General's Office ordered the seizure of the 49 percent minority stake of AAA Activos in the SBA, as well as buildings of the AAA group, belonging to Carlos de São Vicente, as part of a patrimonial investigation process.
The PGR justified the seizure with evidence of embezzlement, economic participation in business, influence peddling and money laundering of the entrepreneur, which is being investigated in Switzerland.
The AAA, led by Carlos São Vicente, married to one of the daughters of the first President, Agostinho Neto, is one of the largest Angolan business groups, operating in the area of insurance and hospitality.
The businessman is also a non-executive administrator of Standard Bank of Angola and requested his immediate suspension of functions until the conclusion of the process, as announced on Monday the banking institution.
According to the Swiss judicial blog Gotham City, quoting a Swiss prosecutor's order, Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, seven of his accounts were frozen, six of his funds were released and an account of around 900 million dollars was kept frozen.
In a note, the family of António Agostinho Neto considered "abusive, slanderous and unfriendly, the use of the name of António Agostinho Neto in relation to the combat to the corruption that the country carries through".
The family and the Foundation Dr. António Agostinho Neto remember that the first President died in September of 1979, six years before the marriage of its first daughter, Irene Neto, in 1985, with Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, considering, therefore, "an absurdity to associate its name to judicial processes in investigation".
