Luanda, 10 October, 2023 / 11:20 am (ACI Africa).
The National Director for Justice and Peace Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) has welcomed the Constitutional Court decision in Angola to reject a presidential decree allocating 10 percent of recovered assets to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts.
In March, President João Lourenço, in a decree, established that 10 percent of all assets recovered, within the scope of the extended confiscation of assets regime, be allocated to the justice administration bodies, namely the Attorney General's Office and the courts, to train and support magistrates in combating transnational crime.
Following complaints from lawyers, the Constitutional Court, on October 7, declared that the March 16 presidential decree “violated the exemption and independence of the courts and the right to a fair trial, making magistrates the direct beneficiaries of assets recovered in favor of the state.”
Addressing journalists in Luanda shortly after the court ruling, Fr. Celestino Palanca said “We welcome the decision taken by the Constitutional Court to annul the decree that allocated 10 percent of the recovered assets to the Attorney General's Office (PGR) and the courts, as it puts an end to this conflict of interest between those who were rightly trying to fight corruption, but who then had some dividends.”
Fr. Palanca added, “These assets were acquired with public funds and public funds belong to everyone and there can't be a privileged class.”
