"In fact, the charges brought against Carlos de São Vicente in Angola are completely unfounded and lack any motivation. This, among other things, clearly shows that the current turn of events is only motivated by a political decision to go after the entrepreneur and his wealth," the Swiss law firm Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd, Geneva, says in a statement dated Tuesday and sent to Lusa this Wednesday.
The turn the lawyers are referring to is what they consider to be a contradiction between the PGR's response to a Swiss letter rogatory in August, which said there was no evidence of a crime on the part of the businessman, who is now suspected of having embezzled money from the oil company Sonangol to the AAA Seguros, while working at the two companies, and who was therefore arrested on 22 September and remanded in custody.
The report of the National Directorate of Investigation and Penal Action, concluded on 7 August, which served as a basis for the PGR's response to a letter rogatory from the Swiss authorities, to which Lusa had access, concluded that, until that date, in Angola there were "no indications of the practice of crimes of corruption, money laundering, economic participation in business and any other crimes in connection with facts contained in the letter rogatory (...) by the respondent Carlos Manuel de São Vicente".
"The Attorney General of Geneva sent a letter rogatory to the Angolan authorities on 11 March 2020, which was very detailed and exhaustive, mentioning the charges brought against the businessman in Switzerland, the status of the case, the amounts at stake, in particular the amounts held by Carlos de São Vicente in his account in Switzerland and the defendant's explanations during the proceedings," states the communiqué from the Swiss office Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd.
In the letter of presentation of a final report of the Angolan PGR, signed by André de Brito Domingos and dated 13 August 2020, the Attorney General's Office "expressly confirms that the authorities, having carried out all the investigative measures requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office in Geneva, having analysed all the documents produced, concluded that there is no evidence in Angola of any crime by Carlos de São Vicente, whether of corruption, money laundering or other financial crimes," they add.
Thus, "the response of the Angolan authorities to the letter rogatory of the Attorney General of Geneva, which confirms the absolute legality of Carlos de São Vicente's activities, is in complete contradiction with the measures recently taken in Angola, which led to the preventive detention" of the businessman, they consider in the statement.
"In fact, these same authorities had been aware for months of the pending case in Switzerland, of the accusations filed against CDSV and of the amounts involved," but "in fact, it was only after the case was published" in various media that the Angolan authorities, "in all probability" also "under pressure from unidentified actors of the Angolan leadership," decided to take action against the businessman, consider the Swiss lawyers.
The Geneva office considers that "the gross inconsistency in the behaviour of the Angolan authorities, which confirmed two months ago that no crime against Carlos de São Vicente was suspected in Angola," cannot be explained otherwise than for political reasons.
Last Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office stated that in August there were no proceedings in Angola against businessman Carlos de São Vicente, when the Swiss judicial authorities requested judicial assistance for the investigations taking place in that country.
"We couldn't respond any differently, so when we learned that there were facts against him, we sent the Swiss authorities a letter rogatory requesting more elements that could help us in the investigations," explained the spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Álvaro João.
The Angolan businessman Carlos de São Vicente was arrested on September 22, and was remanded in custody on suspicion of embezzlement and money laundering crimes, among others.
AAA, led by Carlos de São Vicente, is one of the largest Angolan business groups, operating in the area of insurance and hotel management.
