According to the transcript of the order, "participants in the process are the Public Prosecutor's Office and defendants Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Júnior, Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, You Himing, Fernando Gomes dos Santos, CIF and others".
In this document from the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court, dated December 4th and signed by judge advisor Anabela Valente, it reads: "I designate December 10th, 2024 at 10am for the trial hearing".
Thus, generals Hélder Vieira Dias Júnior known as 'Kopelipa' and Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, nicknamed 'Dino', and five other defendants, including three companies, will be tried for the crimes of influence peddling and money laundering, among others, within the scope of a process that also involves the Angolan branch of the China International Fund, according to a ruling from the 4th section of the Criminal chamber of the Supreme Court, dated December 20, 2023, to which Lusa also had access and published in February this year.
According to this 2023 order, the former head of the Angolan secret services Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias "Kopelipa" is accused of crimes of embezzlement, fraud by defrauding, document forgery, criminal association, influence peddling, abuse of power and money laundering, in a total of seven crimes.
And the former head of communications services Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento "Dino", as well as the lawyer Fernando Gomes dos Santos and You Hai Ming, from China Internacional Fund, will be held responsible for the crimes of embezzlement by defrauding, document forgery, criminal association, influence peddling and money laundering.
The case also involves the companies China International Fund Angola, Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited, which were accused of influence peddling, money laundering, embezzlement by defrauding and document forgery, but will only be responsible for the first two crimes, as that, at the time of the events, Angolan law did not provide for the criminalization of the last two legal types.
The companies were allegedly used by the defendants to set up a scheme that harmed the Angolan State in millions of dollars, involving a financing agreement between Angola and China to support national reconstruction, after the civil war that ended in 2002.
According to the process, in 2020, the two former strongmen of José Eduardo dos Santos, former President, who died in 2022, had to hand over to the State several companies and buildings owned by their companies China International Fund Angola - CIF and Cochan, S.A., including cement and beer factories, supermarket chains and residential buildings.
Not included among those accused is the former vice-president of the Republic and former leader of Sonangol, Manuel Vicente, whose name is also absent from the list of more than 30 witnesses, despite being named in the process, as part of his connections with the CIF.
The court rejected the declaration of nullity of the notification of the indictment requested by general "Dino's" lawyers, who wanted the 1929 Code of Criminal Procedure to be applied to the case, as "manifest inadmissibility, in honor of the principles of procedural speed, procedural economy and maximum legal use of acts already carried out".
In a contradictory instruction, requested by "Kopelipa", Fernando Gomes dos Santos, Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited, the court considered that the defendants "did not bring relevant elements to refute the accusation" and considered that sufficient evidence had been collected to pronounce (bring to trial) all defendants in the case.
