An Angolan online newspaper says that businessman Jack Huang, who has Namibian citizenship, and five other people were arrested in Luanda on suspicion of producing counterfeit money.
Huang claims to be president Hage Geingob’s friend.
The portal said that Huang was arrested Thursday when the attorney general’s office raided the Hua Dragão ‘City of China’ Shopping Centre in Viana.
Huang is the chairperson of the shopping centre where the counterfeit money was being produced before it was released onto the market.
In Namibia, Huang and seven others are out on bail in connection with a massive alleged customs duties and foreign currency scam involving the equivalent of about N$3,5 billion.
Huang and his seven co-accused were arrested in February 2017 and are expected back in the Namibian High Court in January 2020.
58 million fake kwanzas
According to Club-k.net, the State Intelligence and Security Service, the Criminal Investigation Service and authorities of the municipality of Viana found more than 58 million kwanzas in counterfeit notes hidden in a container.
Club-k.net quoted a police source, who participated in the operation, saying that it was one of the largest counterfeit networks of the national currency that develops its actions using illiterate people to pump the counterfeit money in circulation.
Huang, the portal further said, was arrested after a complaint that led to the raid.
Club-K.net also said that Huang’s City of China is suspected of money laundering, prostitution, exploitation of minors and hoarding the national currency.
Bail in Namibia
Huang’s co-accused in the N$3,5 billion case in Namibia are Tao Huizhong, Julius Laurentius, Zhihua Gua, Hongying Jia, Shuhua Cao, Dadi Li and Ying Zhang.
At the time, Huang was allegedly arrested at the Hosea Kutako International Airport on his way to Angola.
His lawyer Sisa Namandje was quoted by the media at the time saying: “I will not even call it an arrest. They grabbed my client unlawfully, and we are going to challenge it immediately.”
Huang was, however, later released on N$1 million bail.
In July 2019, the prosecutor general, Martha Imalwa, asked for ample time to investigate the matter.
