“The former president of the Republic, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, returned to the country on Tuesday,” according to the Angop agency. He landed in the capital Luanda in the morning.
The former head of state had left the southern African country for Barcelona in April 2019, officially for health reasons. The duration of his stay in Angola was not specified.
The absolute master of the southern African country for 38 years, Mr. Dos Santos, 79, is accused of having largely misappropriated national resources by favouring his family and close friends.
Under the constitution, he remains protected from criminal prosecution as a former president until 2022. But his entourage and family members in recent years have not been spared by a vast “clean hands” operation led by his successor since 2017 and former Minister of Defense, Joao Lourenço.
In the name of the fight against corruption, the latter has removed his predecessor’s close guard from the governing bodies of the party in power, institutions and public companies.
Symbols of the nepotism established during his presidency (1979-2017), his children have been targeted. His daughter Isabel dos Santos was removed as head of the national oil company Sonangol. Her Angolan assets have been frozen and she has been charged with a host of financial crimes. She and her husband, Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo, are suspected of embezzling $1 billion in public money.
The former leader’s son, José Filomeno dos Santos, was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling money from Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, which he oversaw from 2013 to 2018.