LISBON, Portugal, November 30, 2015/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
The Court of Appeal of Lisbon has this week cleared the prominent Angolan businessman Dr Álvaro Sobrinho of all allegations of financial misconduct, as had been reported by Correio da Manhã earlier this year. This is the latest in a series of allegations brought against the businessman to be thrown out of court following lack of evidence, following similar instances in 2014 and 2010.
The Portuguese news agency Lusa report that, following allegations of new evidence against Sobrinho and his family businesses, the public prosecutor had seized assets including some of the businessman’s luxury apartments in Lisbon, Portugal. However, following further investigation, the Court of Appeal found that there was no evidence for the claim and released the assets.
Court of appeal Judges Mr Rui Rangel and deputy Mr Francisco Caramel announced the decision.
This latest case comes in a context where Angola and Portugal are redefining their post-colonial relationship. Sobrinho is amongst a number of prominent and high-net worth Angolan business figures investing heavily in Portugal. As the Guardian newspaper reported last year (http://www.apo.af/w7BrDq), [Portugal indebted to Angola after economic reversal of fortune], “Well-off Angolan families are now the only people who can afford to shop on the capital’s upmarket Avenida da Liberdade…they are investing in luxury apartments at Cascais, a fashionable seaside resort, and buying up companies hastily privatised by the authorities. They – and the Chinese – are the prime beneficiaries of the “golden visas” that the government has promised to anyone investing €500,000 ($650,000) in the country.”
A source in Lisbon told Africa News Latest, “Sobrinho is well liked in Lisbon, but still represents an unpopular issue – Angolan money in Portugal”.
