The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has issued Circular 02/GMJDH/2022, dated March 22, which includes guidelines addressed to registrars and notaries regarding the fulfillment of their obligations stemming from the Law for the Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering, the Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Destruction, approved by Law No. 5/20, of 27 January. The Circular came into force on the day it was issued and aims to inform registrars and notaries about the procedures to be adopted in the context of fulfilling their obligation to communicate situations to the Financial Intelligence Unit.
In view of the above, we highlight below the main guidelines comprised in the Circular:
i) Obligation of identification of the user or its representatives, as well as the beneficial owners, in the following operations:
a) Operations of amount equal to or greater than the equivalent in Kwanzas to USD 15,000.00;
b) Operations suspected of being related to crimes identified in Law 5/20;
c) Transactions that raise doubts about the veracity or adequacy of the identification data of the intervenient.
ii) Obligation to refuse the execution of the operation if the obligations set out in Article 15 of Law 5/20 have not been complied with;
iii) Obligation to report the knowledge or suspicion of facts susceptible of constituting the practice of the crimes listed in Law 5/20 to the FIU, with the knowledge of the National Directorate of Identification, Registries and Notary Affairs ("NDIRNA") in the following operations, among others:
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Incorporation of 3 or more commercial companies on the same day or more than 3 companies in one month, when at least one of the partners is the same natural or legal person;
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Incorporation of 3 or more companies on the same day or more than 3 companies in one month, when any of the partners or members of the management bodies are not resident in Angola, especially if they reside in “tax havens”;
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Appointment of persons resident in "tax havens" as directors;
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Appointment of the same director in three or more companies;
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Capital increases by new entries in cash, of amount superior to the equivalent in Kwanzas to USD 50.000,00 or whenever they represent an increase superior to 50%;
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Successive transfers of the same asset, in a period not exceeding 2 months, if the difference between the declared values is greater than 10%;
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Transfer of rights or other businesses carried out by legal persons with registered offices in "tax havens";
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Successive changes of registered office, in periods of less than 2 months, especially if the changes of registered office are cross-border;
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Simultaneous or successive incorporation of three or more commercial companies with head office in the same place;
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Payments made in cash, when the amount is higher in kwanzas than USD 5,000.00.
iv) Obligation to provide information, technical assistance or other form of cooperation requested by the authorities responsible for preventing and combating the commission of the crimes listed in Law 5/20.
Finally, it should be noted that the NDIRNA will be the entity responsible for supervising and monitoring the compliance of registrars and notaries with the guidelines set out in the Circular and for compiling monthly statistics on the measures in which registrars and notaries are involved.
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