angola

José Filomeno dos Santos, son of former Angolan president osé Eduardo dos Santos

Former Angolan president’s son sentenced to five years in jail for fraud

Jose Filomeno dos Santos is the first member of the former presidential family to be prosecuted as part of an anti-corruption drive waged by President Joao Lourenco.

angola

José Filomeno dos Santos, son of former Angolan president osé Eduardo dos Santos

Angola’s Supreme Court has sentenced José Filomeno dos Santos, the son of the oil-rich country’s former president, for fraud during his term as head of the country’s $5bn Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Dos Santos, 42, was accused of trying to embezzle up to $1.5bn from the Fund which he oversaw from 2013 to 2018.

He was charged with stealing $500m from the Fund and transferring it to a bank account in Switzerland.

“For the crime of fraud … and for the crime of peddling influence … the legal cumulus condemns him to a single sentence of five years in prison,” judge Joao da Cruz Pitra said Friday.

Three co-defendants, including the former governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Valter Filipe da Silva, were sentenced to between four and six years in prison for fraud, embezzlement and influence peddling.

All four were acquitted of money laundering charges. They have previously denied any wrongdoing.

José Filomeno dos Santos is the first member of the former presidential family to be prosecuted as part of an anti-corruption drive waged by President Joao Lourenco, who came to power in 2017.

All in the family

In February, Angolan investigators froze the assets of his billionaire half-sister, Isabel dos Santos.

She is being probed for a long list of crimes in Angola, including mismanagement, embezzlement and money laundering during her stewardship of the state-run oil giant Sonangol.

Lourenco has mainly targeted the family members of his predecessor, who appointed relatives and friends to key positions during his over his over three-decades rule – leaving a legacy of poverty and nepotism.

Isabel has vehemently denied the accusations against her and denounced Luanda’s actions as a politically-motivated “witch-hunt.”

She now lives abroad after saying her life had been threatened.

Angola’s former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled for 38 years, is also believed to have left the country.