Isabel dos Santos announced that she challenged the forfeiture of her bank accounts in Portugal, according to a statement released this Thursday. The businesswoman argues that the lawsuit is affecting the ability of their companies to pay salaries, the tax authorities, Social Security and suppliers.
“With the present situation, of an inexplicable and unfounded attachment to the various personal and corporate bank accounts in Portugal, which was already challenged by my lawyers, and which in practice is preventing their movement in the different banks, this reality will pass naturally to be another, presenting itself as a serious risk of destruction of value for all stakeholders, can be read in the statement.
“We continue to do everything to continue to comply with the financial partners, with all our workers and even before the State in terms of tax obligations and social contributions”, he adds.
The businesswoman argues that she decided to act after the Portuguese court’s decision to prevent companies from paying workers, tax authorities, Social Security and suppliers, contrary to what happened in Angola, where it did not affect the companies’ operations.
“It is important to note that, in Angola, the arrests did not prevent the payment of wages, payments to suppliers, taxes and Social Security. In Portugal, on the other hand, the court understood to arrest and freeze bank accounts, blocking any and all movements and, consequently, preventing the operational and normal functioning of any organization, namely in the full fulfillment of its obligations to pay workers, to the Tax Authority, Social Security and suppliers, and corporate administrations cannot be held responsible for criminal or other responsibilities for failure to make such payments, as these, if they occur, are not due to their will, but to the freezing of bank accounts, “according to the statement. of the businesswoman.
Isabel dos Santos argues that it is “of paramount importance that companies can resume operating with all normality so that they can fulfill as they are required to do with all their obligations to all their stakeholders and all their workers”.
The businesswoman details that her European companies took out loans in Portugal in the amount of 571 million euros, as reported by the newspaper Expresso. But that “to date, of this total financing granted on credit, approximately 391 million euros have been paid, with 180 million euros still to be repaid”.
“At no time did any of my companies fail to pay a single installment of these credits (as well as the respective interest and commissions associated with each of the loans),” argues the Angolan businesswoman.
“The companies that I own and work in Portugal are all registered in the European space and none of these companies are offshore, and are properly capitalized, audited and operate in the strictest terms of the law. Until the end of 2019, none of the companies owed a euro in salaries, taxes or Social Security ”, he says.
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