Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto assured Monday that the seizure of assets by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos “is not an isolated act.” Manuel Domingos Augusto indicates that the repatriation of “badly acquired” goods will continue in Angola and that Portugal, like most countries in the international community, is “very sympathetic” to the reforms that are being made.
“THE Luanda court ruling [que determinou o arresto de bens de Isabel dos Santos e do marido] it was the result of an injunction brought by the Government through the Public Prosecution Service, and it is specific as regards the assets covered. Naturally we believe this is the beginning of a process, ”said Manuel Domingos Augusto, on the sidelines of the diplomatic seminar 2020 in Lisbon.
At issue is the non-repayment of a financing that the state-owned company Sonangol had set up to pay the entry of Exem – whose beneficiaries are the businesswoman and her husband – into a company controlled by the Amorim Group and thus, indirectly, in the Portuguese Galp Energia.
The Angolan foreign minister told reporters that the process “could be continued” and “not only with regard to engineer Isabel dos Santos”. “Repatriation and coercive recovery of misappropriated assets or misappropriated assets is a process that began in 2018 and will continue until the Angolan Government understands that the objectives have been achieved,” he said.
“It is not an isolated act, nor is it addressed to anyone in particular, but to all those who, having not adhered to the possibility that the state gave when it established the first law of voluntary repatriation, will apply to all those who have not adhered now they will do it coercively. The Government will stop only when it understands that what it has set as its goal is achieved, ”said the Angolan official.
Manuel Domingos Augusto said that Portugal, “like most countries in the international community, are very supportive of what is happening in Angola”, regarding the “reforms and fighting that the Angolan Executive has elected as fundamental for the country’s future”. . He added: “Portugal, being a country with special relations, also inherently has special responsibilities and obligations, which fortunately for us have been assumed in a pragmatic and open manner.”
The Angolan minister also revealed that this morning he was meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who asked Portugal to “continue to support Angola in this fight” because this “will benefit Angola in the first instance, but it will also benefit everyone. partners, namely Portugal ”.
“As Angola is a partner that can be important, it is in the interest of the Angolan community to be a transparent partner, where the business environment corresponds to the standard International. This is why this phase of the fight against corruption is absolutely necessary. We have no other option. This is what we are determined to do and it will be easier if we continue to count on the support of friendly countries like Portugal, ”he concluded.
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