LUANDA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The Angolan parliament on Thursday approved a draft law on the repatriation of money abroad, an initiative of the government.
In the same session, the parliamentarians voted against the draft law on the Extraordinary Regime of Asset Regulation, proposed by UNITA, the largest opposition party.
In the draft proposal submitted to the plenary, Angolans with undeclared deposits of more than 100,000 U.S. dollars abroad will have six months to repatriate the money to Angola without being subject to any criminal, tax or foreign exchange investigation.
The UNITA project, on the other hand, states that property assets transferred or maintained abroad or in the interior of the country which are undeclared and originated in the national territory, must be duly declared to the Angolan State and followed by payment of due taxes.
The Angolan government is not aware, however, of the amount of money that exists abroad or how much it can recover, said Marcy Lopes, secretary of the President of the Republic for Political, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs.
In December 2017, Angolan President Joao Lourenco urged government officials to repatriate money illegally held overseas by the beginning of this year or risk prosecution.
The president warned that at the end of the grace period, the state will confiscate the money and bring it back to the country to benefit all Angolans and spur domestic investment.
