Category Archives: Isabel dos Santos

Isabel dos Santos has £580m of assets frozen by UK high court

Posted on by

Billionaire daughter of Angola’s former president is being sued by telecoms company Unitel

Isabel dos Santos, the former president of Angola’s self-exiled billionaire daughter who has long faced claims of corruption, has had £580m of assets frozen by the UK high court.

Dos Santos, Africa’s first female billionaire, is being sued by the Angolan telecoms company Unitel, which she founded during her father’s 38-year reign as president. Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled Angola until 2017, and died last year.

Continue reading...

Portugal freezes bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos after Angolan request

Posted on by

Africa’s richest woman suspect in criminal investigation into misappropriation of funds

Portugal has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts of the billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who is currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Angola.

The public prosecutor’s office in Lisbon confirmed reports that dozens of personal and corporate accounts belonging to Dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, were the subject of a seizure order.

Continue reading...

Man behind football exposé revealed as source of Dos Santos leak

Posted on by

Football Leaks founder passed on financial records of Africa’s richest woman, says lawyer

A Portuguese man behind one of the biggest exposés in the history of football has been identified as the source of a leaked cache of financial records about the business empire of Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos.

Lawyers for Rui Pinto, who is awaiting trial in Portugal on charges including alleged hacking and attempted extortion, said in 2018 he passed a non-profit whistleblowing organisation a hard drive containing data relating to Dos Santos’s business empire, which is estimated at $2.2bn.

Continue reading...

Isabel dos Santos responds to Luanda Leaks investigation

Posted on by

Former Angolan president’s daughter and her husband deny corruption accusations

Isabel dos Santos issued the following statement on Thursday after being formally named as a suspect by the Angolan attorney general in connection with a criminal inquiry into embezzlement at the state oil company Sonangol.

The allegations which have been made against me over the last few days are extremely misleading and untrue.

We will seek to clarify our position in relation to the latest accusations.

Continue reading...

Heads could roll at PwC over Isabel dos Santos links, says chairman

Posted on by

Exclusive: Bob Moritz says he is ‘shocked and disappointed’ by Luanda Leaks disclosures

The global chairman of PwC has warned that heads could roll at the professional services firm over its links to Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, who is battling allegations that she obtained her wealth through corruption and nepotism.

Bob Moritz, whose firm advised companies belonging to Dos Santos and her husband across multiple jurisdictions, told the Guardian he was “shocked and disappointed” by recent disclosures about the British-headquartered accounting firm’s work for the daughter of Angola’s former president.

Continue reading...

Angola vows to force return of Isabel dos Santos by ‘all possible means’

Posted on by

Pledge comes as former ruler’s daughter denounces Luanda Leaks investigation

The Angolan government has vowed to use “all possible means” to force the return of Isabel dos Santos following the Luanda Leaks investigation into how the ex-president’s daughter accrued her $2bn fortune.

Angola’s prosecutor general, Hélder Pitra Grós, said on Angolan public radio on Monday that the country would use “all possible means and activate international mechanisms to bring Dos Santos back to the country”.

Continue reading...

What are the Luanda Leaks?

Posted on by

Leak has shown how Africa’s richest woman built her empire, but how did it happen?

Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of the former president of Angola, claims to be a self-made businesswoman, but a cache of documents investigated by the Guardian and partners appears to tell a different story.

The Luanda Leaks are a trove of 715,000 emails, charts, contracts, audits, and accounts that help explain how Dos Santos built a business empire worth an estimated $2bn.

Continue reading...