The president of Angola, João Lourenço, has been under investigation for about a year by US prosecutors. Information is advanced by weekly Expresso, which cites a report by Pangea Risk, a consultant specializing in information analysis for risk management on business in Africa and the Middle East.
The ongoing investigation “may decrease Angola’s ability to maintain access to multilateral financing and successfully restructure the heavy debt burden” says the Pangea Risk quoted by Expresso. The same document said that US prosecutors “have been compiling evidence of violation of US laws and regulations by President João Lourenço, his family and business partners for almost a year.”
According to the same document, in addition to João Lourenço, the Angolan first lady, Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço (shareholder of the communication agency Orion), lawyer Carlos Feijó, Minister of Energy, João Baptista Borges, are also targeted by the US authorities. former vice-president Manuel Vicente; and businessmen Carlos Cunha and Valdomiro Minoru Dondo.
The Pangea Rik report referred to by Expresso explains that “the family [de João Lourenço] is being investigated for numerous FCPA violations, illegal bank transactions, bank fraud for the purchase of real estate in the United States, and a conspiracy to defraud the US Department of Justice by the Lourenço family. “
The information obtained by the consultant and advanced by Expresso “has been corroborated by several international sources in the media, since new indications of alleged irregularities have fallen into the public domain”, indicates the company itself.
The consultant says that part of the suspicions is related to bribes that will have been paid by the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to companies controlled by João Lourenço, his wife and close business partners.
The report also enumerates public and private companies that are in some way connected to the circle closest to João Lourenço, including in this nucleus the construction companies Angoprojectos, Sotal, Engetech, Locomague and Omatapalo, the state-owned Simportex, the Sol and BAI banks, the Imogestin real estate company, Companhia de Cervejas de Angola and the communication agency Orion.
Pangea Risk also tells the case of Squire Patton Boggs, the North American lobbying company hired by the Angolan Government in 2019, information that was detailed by Negócios in the edition of Africa Radar January 20, 2020. Squire received US $ 10.4 million, of which US $ 625 thousand was channeled to an extreme consultant, ERME Capital.
“ERME Capital was created in early 2019 and has since received more than US $ 4 million in funds from the Angolan government. Isabel dos Santos claimed that the company was used to finance the media campaign against herself and her family’s businesses . ERME Capital is managed by Pedro Pinto Ferreira and Maria Mergner, who are friends of the former vice president of Angola Manuel Vicente “, says the Pangea report.
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