*Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos — the daughter of Angola’s former president — is under investigation by the Angolan government for allegedelly exploiting the country’s wealth to enrich herself.
After a leak of more than 700,000 documents that support that accusations against her, dos Santos’ bank, EuroBic, said on Monday that it was ending its “commercial relationship” with her and investigating tens of millions of dollars worth of suspicious transfers and transactions, The New York Times reports.
The billionaire businesswoman holds a 42.5% stake in EuroBic, making her the bank’s main shareholder, BBC reports.
Her father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, ruled oil-rich Angola for almost 40 years until he retired as president in 2017. His daughter was then sacked as chairwoman of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol. According to the leaked documents, as she left the company, Dos Santos approved $58m ($44m) worth of payments, the report states.
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Following an investigation which uncovered a number of questionable deals by Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, Portuguese bank EuroBic has announced it will end its business relationship with the billionaire.https://t.co/fkOibw3DLl
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) January 21, 2020
via msn.com:
The leaked documents include emails, invoices, slide presentations and contracts, provided a paper trail showing how Ms. dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, amassed a fortune of more than $2 billion through their stakes in vital Angolan industries like telecommunications, diamonds and construction.
Dos Santos says the allegations against her are false and claims the Angolan government has launched a witch-hunt against her.
“This is a very concentrated attack. It is an attack that has been very well coordinated. It’s an attack coordinated with foreign media that is working with the Angolan authorities to create a false perception of my business,” dos Santos told Al Jazeera.
While she has made the UK her home with her businessman husband, Angola’s attorney general said the government will “use all possible means” to bring dos Santos back to the country, where she faces possible corruption charges and where her and her husband’s assets have been frozen.
“Our investigation, which took eight months and more than 100 journalists to complete, found that dos Santos, aided by her cadre of Western advisers, funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into offshore shell companies and from there into all kinds of assets, including luxury homes and big businesses,” the ICIJ’s Ben Hallman told Al Jazeera.
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