Luanda - The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, reaffirmed on Tuesday, in New York (USA), the country's willingness to be part of the construction of a new international financial architecture, within which will be paramount a closer collaboration among states.
When speaking in the general debate of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, the statesman argued that the new architecture aims to effectively combat illicit capital flows, “which is often incomprehensibly hampered by the countries that hold the funds under their control”.
“It is important to note that the resources that come from asset recovery have a direct effect on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, consequently, on improving populations' living conditions”.
He highlighted that Angola has made great progress in the fight against corruption, with specific cases of citizens tried and convicted, who saw their assets recovered in favor of the State, due to sentences handed down in court and confirmed by the competent court of appeal.
Asset recovery
With regard to state assets recovery, he highlighted that the country had two successful cases in which it had a “very responsible attitude and respect for our sovereignty, on the part of the United Kingdom authorities, which returned USD 2.5 billion to Angola, who were in a bank in London, it is only fair to publicly recognize him from this world tribune.”
He added that, regrettably, not all countries that agreed to receive these corrupt assets, without questioning their origins at the time, today respect the sentences of the Angolan courts, which are mandatory.
He also mentioned that some of these countries claim the right to question the credibility of our courts, almost wanting to review the sentences issued by them, as if they were extraterritorial appeal bodies.
“These assets are the property of our states that were already impoverished throughout the colonial period. We will, therefore, continue to fight with all our strength for the recovery of assets diverted from the public treasury and which are sorely needed for the construction of school, hospital, energy and water, road and other infrastructures”, he concluded.
The 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, which began on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York (USA), will run until the 30th of this month.
SC/CF/jmc
