The son of Angola's veteran ex-president faced corruption charges before the country's supreme court in a trial which opened on Monday, state news agency ANGOP said, the most high-profile case yet under the government's anti-corruption drive.

Jose Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, the former head of Angola's sovereign wealth fund, along with three other defendents including the former governor of the National Bank of Angola, are accused of transferring $500-million from the bank to an account in London.

An anti-corruption drive has gathered steam in Africa's number two oil exporter since 2017, when President Joao Lourenco ended the nearly 40-year grip on politics of ex-leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is abroad for medical treatment.

Lourenco dismissed the former leader's daughter Isabel as state oil company Sonangol's chair later the same year and the government has taken aim at the former first family and sought to curb their influence on bloated state institutions.

Members of the Dos Santos family have denied corruption.