Lisbon, March 7, 2025 (Lusa) - According to a document consulted by Lusa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends reinvigorating the fight against corruption in Angola and promoting more transparency in the asset recovery process.
The information is contained in an annex to the evaluation report released on Thursday, where the IMF says that after a strong boost in the first term of President João Lourenço (2017-2022) with progress in governance and legislation, reforms have slowed down since 2022 and this momentum should be reinvigorated.
The IMF says that the existing legal framework is in line with best practices, but there has been no progress in institutional autonomy, independence and technical capacity to apply it, and that more transparent, participatory, publicly accessible and digitally automated procedures should be adopted.
Reforms to the judicial system "have stalled since 2022", despite capacity building, said the IMF, pointing to the more than 1,000 law enforcement agents, including judges, magistrates and police officers, trained in areas such as financial investigation, tax fraud and the recovery of illicit assets, with support from the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The National Asset Recovery Service (SENRA) published in 2023 a list of assets recovered since 2019, amounting to $19 billion (€17.5 billion), of which $7 billion (€6.4 billion) were recovered within the country, including shares in banks and companies, real estate, and cash.
The list was updated in 2024 with an additional $308 million (€284 million) in seized assets, of which $83 million (€77 million) in cash was fully recovered and deposited in the National Bank of Angola.
The IMF called for "clear rules and greater transparency in the management, sale and allocation of the proceeds of recovered assets", limiting recourse to asset recovery based on conviction, and restitution of assets seized in other jurisdictions.
The financial institution added that progress in applying the law has been penalised by the commutation of sentences, referring to former Transport Minister Augusto Tomás, and the relative slowness in pursuing high-profile corruption cases such as that of General Kopelipa, still awaiting trial after more than five years [the trial starts next Monday].
The IMF said that the National Strategy for the Prevention and Repression of Corruption (2024-2027) is "lacking in concrete measures and actions", especially in strengthening existing institutions and areas such as the declaration of assets of senior public office holders and politically exposed persons.
The document pointed to flaws in budgetary control and participation, blaming the Angolan National Assembly for "exercising little control over the planning and execution phase of the budget cycle" and the Angolan Court of Auditors which "continues to issue ex-post audit reports [evaluation after the implementation of policies or programmes] on the annual General State Accounts, which do not cover all government entities, and does not follow up on its audit recommendations".
In addition, civil society and the general public "have little space to contribute to the drafting of the budget and monitor budget execution," said the report consulted by Lusa.
Deficits in expenditure control and cash management also reflect payment delays. The IMF highlighted weaknesses in budget commitment control procedures, delays in recognising and budgeting arrears due to inadequate invoice recording, and failures in cash flow forecasting.
On the other hand, it recommended that public procurement is still subject to vulnerabilities that should be "promptly corrected" by adopting open and transparent procedures.
"Contracts awarded through non-competitive tendering (Simplified Contracting - SC) accounted for more than 80% of all contracts and remain the dominant form of public procurement," points out the IMF, a practice that "raises significant concerns about transparency, accountability and fairness and can lead to corruption and inflated contract prices."
RCR/ADB // ADB.
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