Former Angola President’s son sentenced to 5 yrs jail over graft

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Former Angola President’s son sentenced to 5 yrs jail over graft.

Former Angola President's son sentenced to 5 yrs jail over graft
Jose Filomeno de dos Santos

The son of former Angolan president Eduardo Dos Santos, have been sentenced by a court in Luanda to five years in prison over a $500 million corruption case, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Friday.

The former head of Angola’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund, Jose Filomeno de dos Santos, was found guilty, along with three other defendants, of transferring the money to a Credit Suisse account in London.

Dos Santos’ trial has been the most high profile case to date under the anti-corruption drive of President Joao Lourenco, who took the helm after dos Santos stepped down in 2017 after a near four-decade grip of power in Africa’s second-biggest oil exporter.

He was found guilty by Judge Joao Pitra, of fraud, embezzlement and influence trafficking, Lusa said. Valter Filipe, former governor of the National Bank of Angola, was sentenced to eight years in the case.

Former director of Banco Nacional de Angola, António Samalia Bule and Jorge Gaudens Sebastião, a businessman and longtime friend of Dos Santos’, got five years and six years respectively.

However, they were all acquitted of money laundering, Lusa said.

The former Angolan president Dos Santos appointed close allies and kin to key positions but his successor, also a member of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, has rooted out some of his loyalists and initiated anti-corruption trials against senior members of the former regime.

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Author: abokimallamfx