Wilson Freitas Daniel da Costa was accused in January 2019 due to strong suspicions that his identity card had been obtained fraudulently, calling into question his Angolan nationality.
According to the criminal report that Lusa then had access to, dated January 14, 2019 and which stemmed from a complaint, the Angolan civil identification services found that there was no data regarding his parents, suspecting that it was actually a foreign citizen.
It was found, in particular, that the characteristics of the photograph on the first identity card "did not comply" with legal standards and that the birth registration was subsequent to his "supposed" first ID card, issued on 18/03/1997, in the province of Malanje.
The National Directorate of the Civil and Criminal Identification Archive (DNAICC) then sent a report to the Attorney General's Office, informing that "the alleged foreign citizen managed to acquire authentic national documents and, at the same time, marry a foreign citizen, who as a result of marriage had acquired Angolan nationality", asking that criminal proceedings be initiated against Wilson da Costa for falsifying documents.
However, the deputy attorney general of the Republic, Constância Lopes Capenda, considered that the steps taken in the investigation of the case, with the DNAICC "allowed the conclusion that the existence of the crime that had been indicted should be ruled out".
Thus, the judge, who is the sister of Mário Capemba, GE Vernova's regional sales director for Angola, Mozambique, Kenya and South Africa, signed on January 6, 2020 a certificate proving that Wilson da Costa was a "legitimate carrier" of the Angolan citizen's ticket, ruling out any signs of crime.
In the indictment filed on Wednesday by the federal court in Manhattan, to which Lusa had access on Friday, Wilson da Costa is accused of having used false documents to persuade the Government of Angola to terminate contracts with another company relating to a project of energy and water worth 1.1 billion dollars, as well as identity theft.
The criminal charges arise following a long-running litigation between General Electric and an infrastructure company owned by Portuguese businessmen, AEnergy SA, which raised allegations of reckless conduct and cover-up against the North American company.
Wilson da Costa is accused of falsifying documents allegedly belonging to government officials in Angola as part of the scheme between 2017 and 2019.
