[ad_1]
Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former Angolan president and the richest former woman in Africa, must return to Angola her shares in the Portuguese energy company Galp worth 422 million euros ($ 500 million), ruled an international arbitration court.
Dos Santos is accused of embezzling billions of dollars from state-owned enterprises during her father Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ nearly 40-year rule over the oil-rich southern African nation.
The ex-first troubled girl, whose business assets have been frozen since 2019, was ordered this week by a Dutch court to return shares worth $ 500 million to Angolan national energy group Sonangol, which she presided until the coming to power of Lourenço.
The operation by which Dos Santos acquired its stake in the oil and gas company Galp is “null and void”, according to a copy of the decision consulted by AFP on Friday by the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI), which is part of the International Court of Arbitration.
After making a 15% deposit into the bank account of another company in the British Virgin Islands, dos Santos allegedly paid the remainder of the amount in Angolan local currency, worth little outside the country, rather only in euros as agreed in the sales contract, according to the INA.
Santos’ 6% stake in Galp is part of a myriad of investments in Angola and Portugal, worth around $ 3 billion according to Forbes magazine, which have come under scrutiny meticulous.
The court ruling – dated July 23 and first reported by Dutch media on Thursday evening – said the 2006 purchase of the shares, acquired through a company owned by dos Santos’ late husband , Exem Energy, was illegal.
Dos Santos had always denied any wrongdoing and denounced all accusations as a politically motivated witch hunt.
Exem’s lawyers intend to appeal the decision “to the competent court”.
“In this arbitration award, the political narrative clearly trumps the legal analysis,” the company said in a statement sent to AFP on Friday.
One of Sonangol’s lawyers, Yas Banifatemi, told Dutch media that there was “nothing political” in the court’s decision.
“The arbitral tribunal ruled that Isabel dos Santos got rich with money stolen from the Angolan people,” said Banifatemi, quoted in the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad.
‘Princess’
President Joao Lourenço has been committed to fighting corruption since dos Santos retired in 2017, removing his predecessor’s cronies from key positions and probing the old regime for alleged corruption.
He has targeted several members of the dos Santos family, including Isabel and her younger brother Jose Filomeno dos Santos, who were sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling oil revenues last year.
Isabel is the eldest daughter of the former Angolan president, accused of ruling the country with an iron fist, leaving a legacy of poverty and nepotism.
The UK-trained billionaire businesswoman has faced multiple allegations of plundering public funds and funneling money overseas.
In a mine of 715,000 files published in January 2020 by the award-winning New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) dubbed the “Luanda Leaks”, dos Santos was accused of embezzling public funds from the rich in oil, but a country impoverished in offshore assets.
Nicknamed “the princess” in Angola, she has been accused of having amassed her vast fortune thanks to the support of her authoritarian father.
In Portugal, in addition to Galp, it has significant banking stakes and has a majority stake in a Portuguese cable television and telecommunications company.
In December 2019, Angolan prosecutors froze bank accounts and assets held by her and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo, who died last year, a move she called a baseless political vendetta.
Dos Santos became Africa’s richest woman after Forbes magazine named her the continent’s first female billionaire in 2013. She lost that title when her assets were frozen.
Source link
