Luanda — The son of Angola’s former president, José Filomeno dos Santos, has been charged with fraud relating to a $500m transaction out of an account belonging to the central bank, the prosecutor-general’s office said on Monday.
Dos Santos is the highest-profile figure to be charged since President Joao Lourenco succeeded former leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos last September, vowing to tackle an endemic culture of corruption.
British authorities that froze the $500m in the UK due to suspicions over the transaction have said the money can be returned to Angola.
Dos Santos, the former head of Angola’s $5bn sovereign wealth fund, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The former governor of the central bank, Valter Filipe da Silva, has also been charged with fraud in relation to the case, prosecutors said in comments transmitted by state radio.
Da Silva could not be contacted for comment.
Dos Santos’s passport has been seized and he is forbidden from leaving the country.
Prosecutors said the alleged fraud did not fall under any of Angola’s amnesties for financial wrongdoing or repatriation of overseas funds, and the crime would not be pardoned.
"A pardon will not work... this case will run to its final outcome," vice-prosecutor and head of the national directorate for criminal investigations Luis Benza Zanga said.
Reuters
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