LUANDA, Angola (AFP) – President Joao Lourenco of Angola has replaced his head of security and a slew of generals, a statement said Monday, after several army officials serving the presidency were dismissed on graft allegations.

Lourenco has been targeting members of his close entourage as part of a crackdown on rampant corruption that took root under his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Angola’s presidency announced in a statement that Lourenco had replaced Pedro Sebastiao, a minister of state leading the president’s security team since he took power in 2017.

The head of military intelligence, the defence secretary and another senior general were also dismissed.

Reasons for the removals were not specified.

But the move comes just weeks after seven army officials assigned to the president’s security team were dismissed for suspected embezzlement, criminal association and other graft-linked crimes.

The officials were accused of having a hand in stashes of foreign and local currency found in boxes and suitcases by Angolan prosecutors last week, although the Attorney General did not directly name them in a statement on the finding.

Meanwhile, Angolan media reported last month that an army official handling funding for the president’s musical band was caught trying to flee the country carrying two suitcases filled with euro and US dollar bills.

Dos Santos is accused of appointing family and friends to key positions during his 38-year rule, leaving the southwest African country with a legacy of poverty and nepotism.

Lourenco has vowed to restore Angola’s oil-dependent economy and fight graft, leading a purge of his predecessor’s administration focused mainly on the former first family.

The dos Santos children have accused Lourenco of a political “witch hunt”. – AFP