According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office (PGR), Abel Cosme, former chairman of the Board of Directors of Transporte Colectivo Urbano de Luanda (TCUL) was extradited from Portugal on suspicion of having committed embezzlement while he was director of UNICARGA-EP.
"From the questioning carried out on the defendant, it was found that he has been returning the amounts he had filled with the State, through bank transfers to the account of the National Bank of Angola", the PGR said.
The statement does not mention which values are involved and which amount has already been returned.
The Public Prosecutor considered that the fear of flight, the danger of continuing criminal activity and the danger of disturbing the ongoing investigation no longer existed and applied the Identity and Residence Term with coercive measures, a guarantee in the amount of ten million kwanzas and Interdiction to Leave the Country.
"The process continues the normal procedure, with a view to its conclusion and referral to the competent Court", adds the statement from the PGR.
Abel Cosme is one of those implicated in the "CNC Case" which ended with the sentence of the former Minister of Transport, Augusto Tomás, to 14 years in prison, for the crimes of embezzlement, money laundering, criminal association and fraudulent devices to divert funds from the State.
The plenary of the Supreme Court decided, in December 2019, to comply with the former ruler's request and reduce the sentence from 14 to eight years.
On October 15, 2018, Abel António Cosme was appointed as a defendant by the PGR in a proceeding concerning the diversion of funds from the National Council of Shippers (CNC), a body supervised by the Ministry of Transport.
According to the national press, Abel Cosme left the country when the arrest of the former Minister of Transport was announced, citing reasons for illness, and never returned.
Abel Cosme has headed TCUL's board of directors since November 2017 and his absence was made public in January 2019, when the Ministry of Transport's Human Resources office requested, through a publication in Jornal de Angola, his appearance in the within eight days.
