The sentence of the well-known "Lussati case", whose trial began on June 28, was presented this Thursday night by the judge of the case, Andrade da Silva, in a very well attended session and lasted more than five hours.
According to the judge, it was proved, at trial, that Pedro Lussati committed the crimes of embezzlement, for adulterating and inflating salary sheets of the Security House of the President of the Republic, in the period between 2008 and 2018.
Lussati was sentenced to nine years in prison for the crime of embezzlement on an ongoing basis, four years in prison for fraud in the transport or transfer of currency abroad and four years in prison for the crime of money laundering on an ongoing basis.
The judge, in legal cumulation, prepared a single sentence of 14 years in prison and 100 days of fine at the rate of 100 procedural reference units per day for the crime of withholding currency to a major of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
Pedro Lussati assigned to the Security House of the President of the Republic was detained in possession of millions of euros, kwanzas and dollars.
The FAA major, with other identification elements in the records, was acquitted of the crimes of undue receipt of advantage, economic participation in business, abuse of power, illicit introduction of foreign currency into the country, prohibition of payment in cash and illegal currency trade for "insufficient evidence".
The case involves 49 defendants, including high-ranking military and civilian officials, allegedly involved in the embezzlement of millions of dollars through a fraudulent scheme to pay inflated salaries to "ghost" officials in the units assigned to the Angolan President's Security House.
Co-defendant Jacinto Hengombe, assistant to the secretary general of the President's Security House, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime of embezzlement in the continuous form and three years in prison for the crime of money laundering.
"And as a legal culmination, the defendant Jacinto Hengombe is sentenced to a single sentence of 11 years in prison", noted the judge in the case.
All defendants were acquitted of the crime of criminal association due to insufficient evidence, while defendants Frenado Moisés Dumbo, Manuel Correia and Francisco Ventura were acquitted of all the crimes they had been accused of.
The remaining co-defendants were sentenced to between three and seven years' imprisonment.
Judgment also of this court, added the magistrate, in judging proven and valid the request for civil compensation included in the liquidation of assets and consequently condemning all defendants sentenced to pay jointly to the State the amounts of 1,286,267,885 dollars as damages property and 50 million kwanzas as non-property damages.
"The assets and monetary values seized in the case, as well as the inconsistent assets determined in the liquidation of assets, are declared forfeited in favor of the State and must all be handed over to the National Directorate of Heritage of the Ministry of Finance", concluded judge Andrade da Silva.
For his part, lawyer Francisco Muteka, representative of Major Pedro Lussati, expressed himself as "dissatisfied" with the judge's decision and filed an appeal with "suspensive effect".
Francisco Muteka also asked the court for the return of Pedro Lussati's freedom for "exhaustion" of the period of preventive detention, since November 6, 2022.
In reading and answering the questions, the judge of the case noted that it was not proven that Pedro Lussati was the financier of the music band of the Casa de Segurança do Presidente da República.
The "adulteration and inflation" of the payroll, where the defendants "acted in concert", belonged to the units attached to the President's Security House, namely the Presidential Guard Unit (UGP), Central Supply Base (BCA), Cuando-Cubango Road Transport and Demining Battalion and Special Demining Unit (UED).
The "fraudulent" actions were also taking place in the Special Cleaning Brigade (BEL), Military Construction Brigade (BCOM), Strategic Objectives Protection Unit (UPOE) and the Jackal Unit.
