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ANGOLA-POLITICS-JUSTICE-CORRUPTION
Angolan ex-president’s daughter denies graft allegations
LUANDA, Jan 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The daughter of former Angolan president
Jose Eduardo dos Santos has denied allegations of financial irregularities
after a court froze her bank accounts, calling the claims “politically
motivated”.
Isabel dos Santos — nicknamed Africa’s wealthiest woman — is under
investigation for alleged irregularities involving state companies including
the OPEC nation’s giant state oil company Sonangol.
The allegations are riddled with “obvious lies, errors and omissions”, she
said late Tuesday.
“This court decision, which is the outcome of an injunction that was not
communicated to the parties, is clearly arbitrary and politically motivated,”
she said.
Her father Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled Angola for 38 years — a time
widely associated with corruption and nepotism — until President Joao
Lourenco succeeded him in 2017.
Isabel, like most of the dos Santos family, left Angola, claiming she
faced death threats after her father stepped down.
She was appointed head of Sonangol in 2016 but was forced out the following
year, in one of the first acts undertaken by Lourenco to remove dos Santos
relatives from power.
An Angolan court, acting as part of the graft investigation, this month
froze bank accounts belonging to dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo.
Their holdings in several Angolan companies, including the telecoms firm
Unitel and cement company Cimangola, have also been frozen, the statement
said.
The court’s decision also applies to a Portuguese businessman, Mario da
Silva. His family accuses Lourenco’s government of persecution.
The former president’s son, Jose Filomeno dos Santos, 41, who is Isabel dos
Santos’s half-brother, went on trial in early December for alleged
corruption.
He is accused of embezzling as much as $1.5 billion from Angola’s sovereign
wealth fund during his 2013-2018 stewardship.
Despite their country’s extensive oil, gas and mineral wealth, the
majority of Angolans live in poverty and continue to rely on subsistence
agriculture.
BSS/AFP/RY/1605 hrs