Today at 19:04, updated at 19:06
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Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is the main target of a journalistic investigation, under the name “Luanda Leaks”, which details financial schemes that will have allowed to withdraw money from the Angolan public purse, using tax havens.
The businesswoman, daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, had already been accused by the Angolan justice system, at the end of last year, of concluding business with the State through public companies.
Here is a chronology of the most important events since that time:
Through a statement, the Luanda Provincial Court announces that decreed the preventive seizure of personal bank accounts of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, by Sindika Dokolo and Mário da Silva, in addition to nine companies in which they hold stakes. According to PGR, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, Sindika Dokolo, husband of Isabel dos Santos, and Filipe da Silva celebrated business with the Angolan state through the companies Sodiam, a public diamond company, and with Sonangol, a state oil company.
THE businesswoman Isabel dos Santos she says she was never notified or heard in the context of the investigation that led to the foreclosure of her accounts in Angola, denying the allegations in which she is targeted in a process that claims to be “politically motivated”. In a statement sent to Lusa, the Angolan businesswoman says “that she was never notified by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) or cited by the Provincial Court of Luanda”, unaware of the content of the accusation and that “she had no opportunity to present a defense”.
The Securities Market Commission (CMVM) says that “is following the implications of that judicial decision, namely with regard to possible obligations to provide information to the market by national entities “but, he adds, taking into account that” the referred decision primarily focuses on entities under Angolan law, does not appear for now, and in view of the information available , required that national listed companies, not covered by the said decision, disclose information to the market “.
The Bank of Portugal stated that “considers all new facts that may be relevant for the purpose of assessing / reassessing the suitability of any persons who exercise management / supervisory functions or are shareholders of institutions supervised by them “, it can be read in a note sent by the central bank to Lusa about the case of businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.
The Capital Economics consultant who follows the Angolan economy considered to Lusa that the freezing of Isabel dos Santos’ accounts will not have a relevant macroeconomic impact, signaling the government’s reformist impetus: “Freezing the assets of Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former President of Angola, as part of the fight against corruption, should not have a major macroeconomic impact, but it does signal the seriousness of President Lourenço’s reformist impetus” said Virág Fórizs.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola, Manuel Augusto, argued that the lawsuit against businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is not against a particular person, being included in the law of repatriation of assets and capital. The action “is not an isolated act or directed at someone in particular, but at all those who, having not adhered to the possibility that the State gave when it established the first voluntary repatriation law, applies to all who are going to do it now, coercively, “said the head of Angolan diplomacy.
The director of the consultancy EXX Africa considered to Lusa that the main objective of the lawsuit against Isabel dos Santos is to make the assets ingestible and force the businesswoman to abandon business in Angola: “The main objective of this legal action seems to be to make Isabel dos Santos’ businesses in Angola ingestible and thus force a sale or transfer of her assets to the Angolan state or to politically close buyers” of the executive, said the analyst.
The president of UNITA (opposition), Adalberto da Costa Júnior, criticized “directed justice” and the war between “hornets” within the ruling MPLA party, which “is not helping” Angola. Adalberto da Costa Júnior stressed that “everyone should return the money diverted to the State”, underlining that “there are names that no one already speaks”.
O Sintra Court rejected civil action filed by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos against former MEP Ana Gomes for alleged offenses to the good name and reputation, revealed the Portuguese diplomat. The meaning of the sentence was announced by the former MEP in her official account on the social network Twitter, in a publication in which Ana Gomes said that the court in Sintra considered that “the defendant’s right to freedom of expression and information [Ana Gomes] shall prevail over the applicant’s personality rights (reputation and good name) (Isabel dos Santos).
The former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos stated that he “never” transferred money from the State to himself or another State entity or participated in the sale of diamonds and oil, in a message released by one of the daughters. In an open letter, dated January 13 and addressed to the president of the National Assembly and the presiding judge of the Constitutional Court, which was released today by the daughter ‘Tchizé’ dos Santos on his Facebook page, José Eduardo dos Santos denies any “direct participation” in the purchase and sale of diamonds and the sale of crude oil.
A cThe investigative journalism consortium revealed more than 715 thousand files, under the name “Luanda Leaks”, which detail financial schemes of Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, who will be the source of the family’s fortune. The International Investigative Journalism Consortium (ICIJ), which integrates several media, including Expresso and SIC, analyzed, over several months, 356 gigabytes of data related to Isabel dos Santos’s business between 1980 and 2018, which help to reconstruct the path that led the daughter of the former Angolan president to become the richest woman in Africa.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) confirmed that service contracts to companies controlled by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos have ceased, following the publication of news that reveal suspicious transactions and allegedly fraudulent schemes, stating that it has taken “steps to end any work in progress for entities controlled by members of the Santos family”.
Businesswoman Isabel dos Santos considered BBC television, reacting to the accusations of ‘Luanda Leaks’, which “everyone will be lost” due to the investigations, lamenting “that Angola has chosen this path”. Isabel dos Santos argued that “the Angolan authorities embarked on a very, very selective witch hunt, which serves the purpose of saying that there are two or three people related to the Santos family”.
The president of the organization Transparency and Integrity (TI) said that the ‘Luanda Leaks’ investigation reveals that there is an institutionalized “corruption system” in Angola, considering that his combat “is the great test” of President João Lourenço.
THE audit requested by Sonangol to the management of Isabel dos Santos is now complete and the data has been sent to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Angola and the General Inspection of State Administration (IGAE), in addition to the Ministry of Finance for Mineral Resources and Petroleum, said a source from the oil company, referring to KPMG, which was hired in February 2018 to verify the accounts of the daughter of ex-president José Eduardo dos Santos, who chaired the Board of Directors of the Angolan state oil company between June 2016 and November 2017, until she was exonerated by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.
The bank EuroBic announces that it has decided to “end the commercial relationship with entities controlled by the universe of engineer shareholder Isabel dos Santos and people closely related to it “.
The Secretary of State for Finance, Ricardo Félix Mourinho, stated that the Portuguese government is “obviously attentive” to the revelations of the financial schemes of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos in Portugal, but awaits “with serenity” the investigations.
O Public prosecutor says he will analyze information made public under the ‘Luanda Leaks’: “the Public Prosecution Service will not fail to analyze all the information that has been made public and to trigger the appropriate procedures within the scope of its powers”, guaranteeing that “it will follow up on requests for international judicial cooperation addressed to it”.
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