Adriano Parreira made several complaints against Angolan figures, from the outset to the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola, between 2002 and 2006, complaints that “obviously had no follow up”.
In an interview with RTP3, the former ambassador denounced that they were “business on the margins of any respect for the dignity of Angolans” or by “Portuguese law and law”.
On the “irritant” during the indictment of the former vice-president of Angola, Manuel Vicente, in the scope of Operation Fizz, Adriano Parreira considers that the alleged tension between Luanda and Lisbon in those years constitutes “a terrible myth”, since it was “a shadow game (…) to deceive us”.
Manuel Vicente’s process in Angola has apparently been stalled for two years, with no development at all. “It is necessary to be called to the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola and to testify about the immense complaints, immense denunciations that have been presented”, he considers.
“Justice will point the sword at you”
Affirming that he does not know the relationship between Manuel Vicente and the current President of Angola, the former Ambassador points the finger at João Lourenço’s performance: “I think that the muscular intervention of the President of the Republic of Angola in relation to the protection of Manuel Vicente reveals an implication, an interference, of the political power over the judicial power. I am shocked by this attitude of the President, who should (…) let the authorities take care of the case “.
The former ambassador recognizes, nevertheless, the effort of the current President of Angola to fight corruption, having targeted several prominent figures since he came to power.
This fight against corruption, he considers, is only at the beginning: “It points to the main ones, and around the main ones gravitate others”. Adriado Parreira really considers that the former President, José Eduardo dos Santos, cannot leave “unscathed”.
“Sooner or later, justice will point the sword at you”, beginning with the connivance “with the situation of the daughter”, says the former Ambassador, mentioning the controversy involving the Luanda Leaks and Isabel dos Santos. However, he stresses that the Attorney General’s Office “is structurally limited”.
“This is a mire”
Asked if the request for aid to Portuguese justice arises in this context of limitations in Luanda, Adriano Parreira says that “the Portuguese PGR will not help because it never did”.
The Attorneys General of Portugal and Angola met in Lisbon this Thursday to discuss the recent developments in Luanda Leaks.
In 2017, Adriano Parreira presented to the Attorney General’s Office a list of 67 individuals in Angola “highly suspected of contributing to the misfortune of the Angolan people”, with “highly suspicious” businesses in Portugal, but that “nothing has been done”.
“The Attorney General of Portugal should have a very different attitude towards all these issues”, says the former Ambassador, who accuses the institution of systematically ignoring the complaints presented.
Adriano Parreira really talks about a “alleged collusion between Portuguese justice and Angolan justice “, in which a group of personalities embarked on” an organized theft of the wealth of the Angolan public purse “.
Asked if there is a judicial matter to deal with in
Portugal, the former Ambassador is perentory: “I would not make this criminal complaint
if I wasn’t convinced of that. There is a lot of matter. This is a mire, a total promiscuity between Portuguese justice and Angolan justice ”.
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In this interview with RTP3, the former ambassador even talks about a suspicious exchange of e-mails, specifically referring to Paulo Amaral Blanco, who, he says, “articulated promiscuous situations”.
“A container of paracuca”
Adriano Parreira speaks in concrete of a visit from the former
Portuguese attorney general, Fernando Pinto Monteiro, to Angola, in which
was received “princely” by the President of the Republic José
Eduardo dos Santos, in 2010.
Last year Adriano Parreira filed a criminal complaint to the Attorney General’s Office in Portugal asking for several cases of corruption to be investigated between members of the Angolan and Portuguese judicial systems.
At the time, the former prosecutor took with him prosecutors Cândida Almeida and Francisca Van Dunem (current Portuguese Minister of Justice).
“Him [Pinto Monteiro] explains that he took them because they were born in Angola. But is this a criterion for a prosecutor, to take a business trip abroad, the criterion of naturalness? It has to be another criterion, perhaps that of competence “, he adds.
Among the emails delivered to the Portuguese justice, Adriano Parreira highlights the offer of “a container of paracuca” [receita angolana de um doce feito com amendoim e açúcar] to one of the prosecutors who accompanied Pinto Monteiro on that trip. The former ambassador stresses the importance of investigating possible language encodings.
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Adriano Parreira highlights Portugal’s responsibilities in this case: “It has been a rule of law since 1974. It is not because of changing a prosecutor that it will cease to be or that it will be more or less”.
The former Ambassador complains, however, about the lack of a response from the Portuguese authorities. “There are reasons and highly suspicious situations that unfortunately, once again, the PGR of Portugal did not honor me with an answer that I deserve. (…) The PGR has to react to a criminal complaint that has its weight”, he criticizes .
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