ANGOLA: President pardons predecessor’s son jailed for graft

Angolan President Joao Lourenco has pardoned some 50 prisoners, including the son of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos who was serving a five-year jail term for embezzlement. A presidential decree posted on Facebook on Wednesday cited “good behaviour” and the “absence of social danger” in granting freedom to the convicts. Jose Eduardo dos Santos, […]

Angolan President Joao Lourenco has pardoned some 50 prisoners, including the son of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos who was serving a five-year jail term for embezzlement.

A presidential decree posted on Facebook on Wednesday cited “good behaviour” and the “absence of social danger” in granting freedom to the convicts.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in 2022, ruled energy-rich Angola for 38 years until 2017. His son Jose Filomeno dos Santos, 46, had been convicted for crimes including embezzlement and influence trafficking.

He was jailed for fraud in 2020 after $500 million was transferred from the National Bank of Angola to an account in the UK. Three others, including the ex-governor of Angola’s national bank, were sentenced.

The pardon was linked to the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence from Portugal next year, the decree said, adding it was aimed at promoting a “climate of harmony, leniency, indulgence, concord and fraternity”.