Luanda — The lawyer of Valter Filipe, former governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Sérgio Raimundo, considered, this Friday, excessive the penalty applied to his client.

Valter Filipe was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Supreme Court for involvement in the "500 million case," together with former chairperson of the Sovereign Fund of Angola, José Filomeno dos Santos "Zenu", sentenced to five years.

The court also sentenced António Bule to five years in prison and George Gaudens to six years. However, the defence lawyers have already lodged an appeal for the sentences, with suspensive effect.

In statements to the press after reading the sentence, Sergio Raimundo vowed to work on the appeal to see his sentence reduced.

He also considered the compensation of five million kwanzas applied excessive.

The defendants were convicted of the crimes of embezzlement, influence peddling and fraud, and were to pay compensation of 300,000 kwanzas each, 150,000 for the judicial services and the sum of five million kwanzas in solidarity.