Angolan president pardons predecessor’s son jailed for graft

Angolan President João Lourenço pardoned about 50 prisoners, together with the son of his predecessor, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who was serving a five-year jail sentence for embezzlement.

A presidential decree posted on Fb on Wednesday cited “good conduct” and “absence of social hazard” as causes to grant freedom to convicts.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in 2022, dominated energy-rich Angola for 38 years till 2017. His son, Jose Filomeno dos Santos, 46, was convicted of crimes together with embezzlement and affect trafficking.

He was jailed for fraud in 2020 after transferring $500 million from the Nationwide Financial institution of Angola to an account within the UK. Three others had been additionally sentenced, together with the previous governor of the Nationwide Financial institution of Angola.

This conviction represents the primary main corruption case in Angola for the reason that switch of energy.

The decree mentioned the amnesty was linked to the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Angola’s independence from Portugal, including that it aimed to advertise “a local weather of concord, leniency, tolerance, harmony and brotherhood.”

In November, the UK authorities imposed sanctions on Angola’s Isabel dos Santos, a billionaire businesswoman and daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, as a part of a brand new anti-corruption initiative.

In line with the UK authorities, Isabel dos Santos “systematically abused her positions in state-run corporations to embezzle not less than £350 million (US$443 million), depriving Angola of the assets and funding for improvement it desperately wants.”

Thought-about the richest lady in Africa, she is at the moment needed by Angolan authorities investigating alleged irregularities in her administration of the nationwide oil firm Sonangol between 2016 and 2017.

Dos Santos’ household claims they’re being subjected to political persecution.

Agence France-Presse