A secretary with businessman Jack Huang’s City of China in Viana district of Luanda, Angola, says the fake kwanzas found in a container on the premises belonged to a company called Tai Wan Food.
Huang, who has Namibian citizenship, and five other people were arrested in Luanda on suspicion of producing counterfeit money end of Dec. last year.
The Chinese businessman is still in custody while Angolan authorities are investigating the case of the fake 50 million kwanzas.
Huang, who claims to be President Hage Geingob’s friend, was arrested 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 found.
His secretary Helena Xiang, however, told the Angolan media on Friday that the fake notes did not belong to Huang and that the money was given one of the workers in a transaction at the CIF Jardinagem condominium on 18 Nov. 2019.
Xiang also said that the 50 million kwanzas were kept in a container on the premises pending an investigation by Angolan authorities.
She further said that two cleaners at the centre broke into the container and stole some of the fake notes which one of them tried to use to buy at 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.
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.
