The sentence, handed down by the Supreme Court, also includes the payment of a fine of more than 250 million kwanzas (around $300,400) to the State for material damage, as well as a court fee of 500,000 kwanzas (about $600).

The defendant’s defense declared that it will appeal the sentence in the coming days, considering it unfair and inadmissible.

The former governor was accused by the Public Ministry of having embezzled 180 million kwanzas (about 216 thousand USD) that were part of the budget assigned to the province of Lunda-Sul for the period 2012-2017.

According to the charges, the leader signed and approved fictitious contracts between the provincial government that he represented and several companies, without the participation of the other members of the governing board and without the knowledge of the representatives of said entities.

In particular, he is accused of signing contracts for public works included in the investment program, which fraudulently went into the hands of companies that did not participate in the tender called for this purpose.

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