Carlos São Vicente’s defense challenges charges and claims a not guilty verdict

On the 15^th of February 2022, Carlos São Vicente’s lawyers concluded the presentation of his defense, claiming the total innocence of the accused and meticulously destroying the accusation. 

The defense started by invoking many nullities and irregularities in the prosecution file. It stated, for example, that the prosecution and the court relied on an anonymous and legally inadmissible document to bring the accused to trial. Another serious illegality is the fact that the court prevented the accused’s main lawyer from representing him, invoking absolutely artificial and unfounded reasons. This illegal decision has been pending in appeal before the Supreme Court for nine months. However, as the Supreme Court did not rule on the appeal to date, the absence of the lawyer at the trial became a fait accompli, despite the Angolan Bar Association’s advice in favor of the lawyer. The accused’s main lawyer is one of the most experienced and senior lawyers in Angola.  

Among other serious illegalities, there is also the fact that the PGR (Attorney General Chambers), without any power or jurisdiction to do so, has definitively distributed to various public bodies many of the assets seized from the accused, which means that his conviction was already and remains assumed. The Court remained silent, allowing this early assumption in violation of the presumption of innocence. 

The defense further claimed that the prosecution’s narrative does not fulfill the typical elements of the crimes for which the accused was charged. The prosecution alleges that the accused illegally appropriated shares in companies constituted by the state-owned company Sonangol, but does not demonstrate the existence of any illegality in these acquisitions, which were duly deliberated and approved by all relevant entities. The defense demonstrated that no equity was donated to the accused. Rather, the latter acquired and paid all the equity interests, which is demonstrated in the audited accounts and respective notes on file. 

The funds received by Carlos São Vicente’s companies came essentially from reinsurance premiums, whose transfers were made in commercial banks after approval by the BNA (Angola National Bank). 

The defense also rejected an alleged loss for “premium inflation”. This was impossible, the defense said, because the reinsurance premiums were stipulated by the reinsurers and the terms of reinsurance were defined in the Agreements signed with SONANGOL EP. The premiums were approved by the operating companies, by their associates and by the concessionaire. The operators’ captive reinsurers also retained part of the risk. Furthermore, the premiums charged by AAA SEGUROS SA were reviewed and considered entirely competitive, according to the Transfer Pricing Study carried out by a prestigious international auditor. 

The defense denied that AAA SEGUROS SA had been set up with exclusively public funds. Carlos São Vicente, through AAA (ANGOLA) INVESTORS LTD, held part of the capital and other shareholders held other holdings in AAA SEGUROS SA.

There were initial loans from several shareholders that were reimbursed in 2002 (as the audited accounts also show). SONANGOL EP did not donated anything to anyone, contrary to what the prosecution claims. 

The defense showed that AAA SEGUROS SA paid the State more than US$ 96 Million in taxes and official fees. These values include stamp taxes on insurance policies and receipts that were levied on premiums and commissions, which refutes the accusation that they were not taxed. Further, the AGT (General Tax Administration) issued a statement in 2019 confirming that AAA SEGUROS SA did not have any tax debt. 

It was also demonstrated that the PGR hid from public opinion and sought to omit in this file that, in August 2020, it sent a response to a rogatory letter from the Swiss authorities, in which, after an intense investigation, it recognized Carlos São Vicente’s innocence. However, the following month, in September 2020, the PGR brought the case against Carlos São Vicente, without any further investigation or evidence, and arrested him. 

The defense also claimed that Carlos São Vicente is still detained illegally. The Court maintains that the duration of pretrial detention was extended due to an appeal brought by the defense to the Constitutional Court, but the truth is that this appeal was not admitted. Therefore, the legal term of pretrial detention is long overdue. 

Finally, the defense also denied that ENSA saved US$ 300 Million in 2 years (2016 and 2017), after the coinsurance leadership was returned to this state-owned company. Such savings would be simply impossible, as the premiums received by AAA SEGUROS SA in previous years (2014 and 2015) did not exceed US$ 70 million per year. 

On that basis, the defense requested a not guilty verdict of Carlos São Vicente regarding all crimes charged against him due to a manifest lack of evidence and the related reasoning in fact and in law.