Lisbon: Angolan Vice-President Manuel Vicente had been charged in Portugal with corruption and money laundering, the Prosecutor General’s office in Lisbon said yesterdayy.
Vicente, seen as a possible successor to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos who has been in power since 1979 and intends to retire next year, is accused of bribing a magistrate when he was chief executive of state oil company Sonangol.
A former prosecutor, Orlando Figueira, who was arrested a year ago, has been charged with receiving a bribe of 760,000 euros ($810,000) to shelve an investigation into Vicente’s dealings in Portugal before he became vice president.
The Angolan vice president’s office had no immediate comment. Angola has branded previous attempts by Portugal to investigate Vicente as “revenge by the former colonial master” and “neo-colonialism”.
