20100809
reuters

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's ruling party will meet this week to examine a private report accusing members of the president's inner circle of corruption, a spokesman said on Monday.

The report, "The Angolan Presidency -- The Epicentre of Corruption", describes how people close to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos have taken control of the economy by securing stakes in firms in sectors ranging from oil to banking.

Dos Santos, his eldest daughter and several key ministers and members of the ruling MPLA party all featured in a list of Angola's 12 richest people in a survey carried out by the privately owned newspaper Agora late last year.

Rui Falcao, a spokesman for the MPLA, said the party would examine the allegations this week.

"We need to see concrete evidence and documents," he said. "We are serious about fighting corruption."

Dos Santos has stepped up calls for zero tolerance of corruption since his government turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2009 for a $1.3 billion loan.

After the loan was announced, the government passed a law to punish public officials caught stealing from the state. The Public Probity Law, which came into force last month, also obliges all government officials to declare their wealth.

Rafael Marques, the report's author, says the new law and the president's crackdown are nothing more than a "mask covering up the plunder of the country by his inner circle".