Angola’s outgoing attorney general today said he is leaving office with a clear conscience, having built a strong and secure foundation for the continuation of the work he led for several years.
“I leave at least with a clear conscience of having done what was possible, of having been committed, focused, and of having had the contribution of a splendid and wonderful team that worked with me during these years,” said Hélder Pitta Gróz, speaking to reporters.
Pitta Gróz was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Strategic Plan to Combat Crimes against Wildlife and the Environment in Angola. Asked to comment on results in the fight against corruption — which defined his tenure — he said the battle against this ill is eternal.
“There is no country in the world that can say it has eradicated corruption. What we have to do is find ways to minimise it, and Angola has been doing that in its daily work. All justice operators have been fighting for this, and I believe that very great effort to minimise the problem will continue,” he said.
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Pitta Gróz, who began his mandate in 2017, said he tried to do the best his capacity and competence allowed. “If I happened not to meet other people’s expectations, on the one hand I cannot please everyone and, on the other, I also did not have the capacity or competence to do everything or get everything right,” he added.
On the high-profile cases that marked his tenure, he said there were and always will be complex cases, some more than others.
The case of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is already before the court and awaiting trial. On the case of former Angolan vice-president Manuel Vicente, Pitta Gróz said work is ongoing but heavily dependent on “activity abroad, responses to letters rogatory and other overseas proceedings,” which have not always come with the speed the Angolan authorities had hoped for.
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On asset recovery, despite financial values already recovered, he said “there are millions still to return” in proceedings in several countries. “We have money in Switzerland amounting to around one billion dollars, money in Singapore of more than 500 million dollars, money in Bermuda of around 200 million dollars,” he said, expressing confidence the funds will eventually return to Angola.
At a domestic level, he said a Code of Ethics and Conduct for Magistrates will be approved “precisely to internally control some behaviours and procedures that are not entirely correct.”
On Monday, Angola’s Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Magistracy elected the three most voted names to succeed Pitta Gróz — magistrates Gilberto Mizalaque, Pedro Mendes de Carvalho and Mota Liz — who will now be considered by president João Lourenço.
