* MPLA to meet to discuss campaigning journalist's report
* Report accuses president's inner circle of corruption
By Henrique Almeida
LUANDA, Aug 9 (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".
Marques is a journalist and human rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website www.makaangola.com.
BAD EXAMPLE
He points the finger at deals led by Minister of State Manuel Vieira Dias Junior, General Leopoldino Nascimento, dos Santos' head of telecommunications, and Manuel Vicente, chief executive of the state-run oil firm Sonangol.
"This state of affairs stems from the lack of moral and political authority by the president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, to restrain his closest aides," Marques wrote in the report.
Presidential spokesman Jose Mena Abrantes declined comment.
Rights groups have also accused dos Santos and his inner circle of setting a bad example.
"The official discourse against corruption has served as window-dressing for a continuation of business as usual while more international legitimacy is garnered for the status quo," Marques wrote.
The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International rates Angola 19th out of 180 countries by perceived levels of corruption.
Despite its vast oil and mineral wealth, an estimated two-thirds of Angolans live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.
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