Angolan jurist defends that the President of the Republic asks the President of the Supreme Court to step aside

Angolan jurist Sergio Raimundo this Wednesday defended that the President of the Republic should propose that the President of the Supreme Court temporarily resign if “what he really wants to do is moralize society and institutions.”

Sergio Raimundo, in statements to the Lusa agency, commented on the crisis that has been observed in recent months in Angolan justice with the participation of the highest figures of the highest courts of Angola, in particular the President of the Supreme Court, Joel Leonardo, and the former President of the Court of Accounts, Exalguina Gamboa, both accused of various crimes such as embezzlement, trading in influence, nepotism, extortion and corruption.

The lawyer believes that in these two cases, Angolan President João Lourenço uses “two weights and two measures”, acting differently “in equal situations.”

“Unfortunately, I think the president is using double standards for equal situations,” he said.

According to Sergio Raimundo, in relation to the case of the former chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the head of the Angolan state “almost publicly stated that there is evidence that she committed these illegal acts”, while in the situation with the Supreme Court “he practically came to their defense, stating that (…) there is no evidence and that they cannot act on information published on social media.”

“But every business started on social media. We all started to hear about the problems of the Accounts Chamber on social networks, through Maka Angola and other social networks (…), regarding the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the main source was Club K, so I don’t see the difference,” he stressed .

“And I think that within the framework of the constitutional injunction that the President of the Republic said he used to ensure the normal functioning of state institutions, he should act likewise in relation to the Supreme Court in order to guarantee the normal functioning of this body of sovereignty of great weight within the general justice, which could discredit the entire Angolan justice system and nullify all the efforts made by the President of the Republic himself as the bearer of the executive power. is carried out to attract investment in our economy,” he stressed.

“Because no one wants to invest in a country where the highest court, the main figure of the highest court, is thrown into the dirt, as we are seeing,” he added.

Sergio Raimundo believed that “the most serious and quickest way for the President of the Republic was to offer the President of the Supreme Court to temporarily resign, as he did with the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber.”

“There it was final, but here at least he could temporarily step aside so that, according to legal criteria, the senior chairman of one of the chambers replaced him as chairman of the plenum during the various sessions, until the position of the incumbent president “, – said the jurist, repeating that “this is the most demanding, this is what the ethical minimum requires,” if in fact it is intended to “moralize institutions and society.”

For the lawyer, what he saw in court is “very serious, disturbing and destabilizing the functioning of the country’s institutions.”

Regarding the latest discussion of the plenary session of judges of the Supreme Court, who decided to remove him from presiding over the sessions, the presiding judge of this court, Sergio Raimundo, welcomed this decision “so as not to pollute the credibility of the decisions that were transferred there.”

According to the lawyer, the Superior Council of the Judicial Magistracy (SCJM) does not have the power, referring to article 184 of the Constitution of the Republic and paragraph 26 of Law 14/11, to evaluate or cancel the plenary session, since it is an organ of the sovereign, and the council is a purely administrative body and can only in alternatively, through legal and judicial means, challenge or prove the invalidity of this resolution.