Luanda - Businessman Carlos São Vicente was sentenced Thursday to nine years in jail and payment of US$4.5 million in damages and a fine of 200 days, by the District Court of Luanda.
According to Rádio Nacional de Angola, Carlos de São Vicente was sentenced for the crimes of money embezzlement, laundering and tax fraud.
According to the court ruling, during the 16 years that he ran the insurance and reinsurance business for the oil industry in Angola, Carlos São Vicente, "played the role of referee and player," putting at risk and dissipating legal assets that were in his sphere, but representing the Angolan state.
In the reading of the Sentence, the Judge of the case considered the argument of the businessman, about the origin of his assets, as illogical.
The trial of the former chairman of the board of AAA Seguros, Carlos São Vicente, began on 11 February at the District Court of Luanda, as part of the so-called "USD 900 million" case, which led to the seizure, by the judicial authorities, of several buildings of the AAA group, belonging to the businessman.
Between 2000 and 2016, Carlos São Vicente was the director of risk management at Sonangol and chairman of the board of directors of the "AAA Seguros" company, in which the Angolan oil company was initially the sole shareholder.
São Vicente was accused of having carried out, at the time, "a scheme of illegal appropriation of social participations" in the insurance company and of "income and profits produced by the system" of insurance and reinsurance in the Angolan oil sector, thanks to the company's monopoly.
He was arrested on 22 September, 2020, after being charged with suspicion of crimes of embezzlement and money laundering.
