Excerpts from a press release issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Washington - Today, on International Anti-Corruption Day, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting fifteen individuals and entities across several countries in Central America, Africa, and Europe. Today’s actions are taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of corruption and serious human rights abuse.
Treasury’s actions today are complemented by the U.S. Department of State’s announcement of visa restrictions under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, targeting several corrupt current and former officials, as well as their immediate family members, and making them ineligible for entry into the United States.
“Corrupt acts take resources from citizens, undermine public trust, and threaten the progress of those who fight for democracy,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “Treasury is committed to countering those who seek personal enrichment at the expense of the people who trust them to to serve — especially in the middle of a global pandemic. We are taking these actions today to expose and hold corrupt leaders accountable.” ...
CORRUPTION IN ANGOLA: LEOPOLDINO FRAGOSO DO NASCIMENTO and MANUEL HELDER VIEIRA DIAS JUNIOR
Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento (Nascimento) and Manuel Helder Vieira Dias Junior (Dias Junior) are former government officials that stole billions of dollars from the Angolan government through embezzlement.
Nascimento and Dias Junior colluded with other Angolan individuals and Treasury-designated Sam Pa to misappropriate funding intended for infrastructure development projects, including the use of phantom projects.
Pa was designated on April 17, 2014 for undermining democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe, facilitating public corruption by Zimbabwean senior officials through illicit diamond deals, and providing financial and logistical support to the Government of Zimbabwe and Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs).
The two are also suspected of siphoning off millions of dollars from Angolan infrastructure projects and then using their positions in the Angolan economy to protect themselves from the possibility of criminal charges. As part of a military equipment deal, Dias Junior brokered with a third-country defense manufacturer an additional large sum of money for other senior Angolan government officials.
Nascimento and Dias Junior are designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being foreign persons who are current or former government officials, or persons acting for or on behalf of such an official, who are responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
Additionally, OFAC is also designating four entities that are owned or controlled by Nascimento: Cochan S.A., Cochan Holdings LLC, Geni SARL, and Geni Novas Tecnologias S.A..
OFAC is also designating one entity, Baia Consulting Limited (Baia), pursuant to E.O. 13818 that is owned or controlled by Dias Junior, and his spouse, Luisa De Fatima Giovetty, for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Baia....
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the persons above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
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GLOBAL MAGNITSKY
Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center assisted OFAC in identifying perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption.
