Jose Filomeno dos Santos, son of the former president who ruled Angola for 38 years, was sentenced to five years in prison by the nation’s Supreme Court in Luanda on Friday.

He was found guilty for a multi-billion-dollar embezzlement scheme attempting to transfer to $1.5 billion into a private Swiss bank account from the sovereign wealth fund - which he oversaw for five years from 2013.

Jose Filomeno dos Santos has been sentenced to five years in prison after he was found guilty of embezzlement and fraud.

His sister Isabel (Africas richest woman 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆) is on the run, probably forever if she is not arrested soon.https://t.co/LDVEHSdVY9

— Arch. Martin Tairo (@mmtairo) August 14, 2020

Three of his co-defendants - including the former governor of the national bank of Angola (BNA) Valter Filipe da Silva, received sentences of three-six years for similar crimes of fraud, embezzlement and influence peddling.

Political "Witchhunt"?

Zenu, as he is known, is the first to be persecuted from this presidential family as part of an anti-graft campaign led by current President João Lourenço - who came to power in 2017.

A second family member might follow suit as in February, Angolan investigators froze the assets of Zenu's billionaire half-sister, Isabel dos Santos, as she is being probed for a lengthy list of crimes - namely mismanagement, embezzlement and money laundering during her stewardship of the state-run oil giant Sonangol.

"Angola's former President's son,
Jose Filomeno Dos Santos,
has been sentenced to 5 years in prison over
a $500 million corruption case.

He is the former Chairman of Angola's Sovereign Fund.

His father,Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, ruled for 38 years."

Korruption
Präsidentensohn https://t.co/xlfNAmGhRo

— Mila (@Milatrud11) August 14, 2020

It appears that Lourenço has mainly targeted the relatives of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who appointed members of his family to key positions in the country during his presidency.

This, unfortunately, left a legacy of nepotism and poverty - with only a small elite, since then, having benefited from Angola's vast oil and mineral reserves.

The southwest African country has been slow to recover from a civil war which lasted from 1975 to 2002 civil war.

A large part of the nation’s population live in poverty and have limited access to basic services.

Large pockets of the population live in poverty with limited access to basic services.