When responding to the interrogation, in the trial that has been held at the Supreme Court, in Luanda, since the 9th of this month, in which he is indicted for crimes of embezzlement, violation of the rules of budget execution and money laundering, he explained that part of this amount served to support various public and private media outlets.
According to Manuel Rabelais, Grecima sent letters to the BNA to facilitate the acquisition of foreign currency to the Ministry of Social Communication, RNA, TPA, ANGOP, Edições Novembro, TVZimbo and Semba Comunicação.
In reality, said the defendant, Grecima used only for his benefit, to fulfill his mission, between 20 to 30 million euros, contrary to what is stated in the prosecution of the Public Ministry.
He maintained, on the other hand, that of this amount, around 16 million euros were transferred abroad to pay for the provision of services by several companies to recover the country’s image abroad.
The defendant stressed that the focus of this action is on the work carried out with Euronews, which before 2017 had never issued positive news about Angola, starting to disseminate an image that made all Angolan citizens proud.
He explained that for two months this international station issued programs to rescue the image of Angola in 14 different languages, being viewed on average by two thousand citizens daily worldwide.
He denied having used the process of buying and selling foreign exchange carried out by the BNA for personal benefit, affirming, however, the sale of these amounts to companies considered suitable.
Asked about the surrender to co-defendant Hilário Gaspar Santos of 40 thousand euros, he confirmed the fact, explaining that he had suffered an assault, in which he was shot, and that there was a need for appropriate treatment.
However, he explained that part of that amount had to be used to transfer a relative to the Republic of Cuba, as he was seriously ill.
Manuel Rabelais also revealed that the institution for which he was responsible did not have accounting services, due to the secret and confidential nature of the activity he carried out.
Accountability should be done orally and only to President José Eduardo dos Santos, he stressed, adding that “all money transfer operations should be carried out secretly, without paper, without leaving a trace and accountability being made verbally and only to him “, said the defendant, who said he did not know the amount of the movements.
Manuel Rebelais reiterated that Grecima depended only on the Head of State and its director and that the implementation of some actions was done in coordination with the then Military House (today Casa de Segurança) of the President of the Republic.
The creation of Grecima, he said, had as its main motivation the improvement, defense and promotion of the image of Angola inside and outside the country. “The perception that Angola had abroad was of a highly corrupt country, from the President of the Republic, members of the Government, parliamentarians, courts and journalists,” he said, adding that it was to change this situation that Grecima was created.
To fulfill that mission, he stressed, that agency needed money, as it had no financial availability, despite the fact that the General State Budget provided funds for that purpose. The financial difficulty was justified by the crisis that the country was going through.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
