Angola has recovered more than $5 billion embezzled funds this year, the Minister of Justice, Francisco Queiroz (pictured), announced.

According to the official, more than $3 billion of the money had been misappropriated from the Angolan sovereign wealth fund, an organization with a financial capacity of $5 billion and managed in recent years by José Filomeno dos Santos. For the past week, the organization has been on trial for a fraud involving $1.5 billion of public money.

As soon as he came to power in 2017, President Joao Lourenço launched an extensive anti-corruption campaign, which led to the ousting of many members of the former regime, such as Isabelle dos Santos, daughter of former President Eduardo dos Santos and former president of the state oil company Sonangol. According to Minister Queiroz, the authorities have begun negotiations with many financial institutions for the repatriation of funds embezzled under the former regime.

“We have argued insistently that these important resources should be returned unconditionally to the countries from which they were illegally withdrawn in order to be used to improve the quality of life of our populations,” the official said at a press conference, adding that most of the funds recovered were misappropriated through corruption and money laundering.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou