Luanda: The Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) on Sunday arrested an auditor of the General Tax Administration (AGT) in Luanda for his alleged involvement in the theft of seven billion kwanza illegally collected from VAT payments. The accused is a tax technician and auditor of the 2nd Cargo Tax Department, who was on the run in Lisbon and left for Dubai on February 19, with Luanda (Angola) as his final destination.

According to Angola Press News Agency, the arrest took place when passengers disembarked from the Emirates flight from Dubai, following an arrest warrant issued for him. He is accused of obstruction of justice and criminal association for his alleged involvement in the fraudulent VAT refund scheme and other frauds.

Investigations into this fraudulent scheme are ongoing and have already resulted in the arrest of eight senior AGT officials, including a former administrator of the VAT, Strategic Planning and Information Technology Directorates.

According to the SIC, the Director of Registration and Collection and the Head of the VAT Refund Department were recently arrested at the AGT headquarters for the offenses of Illegal Access to Information System and Embezzlement through Information System, Computer Falsehood, Criminal Association, based on strong evidence of their involvement in the scheme. The SIC found that the scheme consisted of officials in various positions who took advantage of their privileges to carry out various fraudulent transactions.