The Angolan Attorney General (PGR) announced today that the Angolan State has definitively recovered in cash and property a total of about 5.3 billion dollars (4.3 billion euros) and that there are 1,522 lawsuits related to economic crime.
Hélder Pitta Gróz, who was presenting his message today on the occasion of the festive season, explained that among the recovered goods, estimated at US $ 2.6 billion (€ 2.1 billion), are housing properties, offices, buildings, factories, port terminals, shareholdings in companies, among others.
According to the Angolan PGR, in terms of “combating impunity”, thousands of actions were opened across the country, in the most diverse jurisdictions and areas of activity of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), highlighting 1,522 processes related to economic-financial and equity.
Among the processes related to crimes of an economic and financial nature, those of embezzlement, money laundering, undue receipt of benefits, economic participation in business, active and passive corruption and fraud for defrauding stand out.
The Public Prosecutor also announced that movable and immovable property, constituted with public funds or with the advantages of crime, was seized and / or seized, in an amount equivalent to approximately 4.2 billion dollars (3.4 million dollars) such such as factories, supermarkets, buildings, real estate, homes, hotels, among others.
Hélder Pitta Gróz also reported that the National Asset Recovery Service (SNRA) of the PGR asked its counterparts abroad to seize and / or seize assets and money in the amount of US $ 5.4 billion (4, EUR 4 billion), namely in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, among other countries.
“With the objective of strengthening the technical capacity of public prosecutors, a Manual of Good Practices for Public Prosecutors was prepared in the Preparatory Instruction, which is in the process of adapting to the new penal codes and the criminal procedure,” he said.
In the field of human resources management of the Angolan PGR, she said that the body registered a considerable increase in the number of magistrates in the direction of provincial bodies, with currently five provincial bodies and six of the central management being directed by women.
At least 70 justice auditors finished their curricular and stadium training at the Angolan National Institute of Judicial Studies (INEJ) this year and are awaiting appointments as prosecutors of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and who “should mitigate the shortage of human resources”.
In the balance of the activities carried out in 2020, Hélder Pitta Gróz said that about 672 civil servants, technicians of the PGR, benefited from updates of the respective categories, as a result of “hard work” with the competent bodies.
For 2021, the institution expects to conclude the call for the nomination of 12 new deputy attorney generals of the Republic to “better respond to job demands at the higher level”.
The Angolan PGR promised to reinforce the exchange and cooperation with the sovereign bodies and with similar foreign institutions: “in an increasingly complex and globalized world, we will not be successful if our performance is isolated”.
In this regard, he added, 16 letters rogatory were sent to countries such as the United States of America, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa, and Namibia, “seven of which have already been completed”.
“We received 82 requests rogatory from Portugal, Brazil, and Namibia for treatment. The Attorney General of the Angolan Republic has already fulfilled and returned 11 letters rogatory ”, he stressed.
Hélder Pitta Gróz also asked for the reinforcement of material, technical, equipment, installations, and human resources “to improve its efficiency and guarantee excellence in its service to society”.
On the occasion, the portal of the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola was also presented with an email address: pgr.ao.