"Luanda Leaks": for Sindika Dokolo, "there is a will to harm us" - RFI

By Sonia RolleyPosted 19-01-2020Changed 19-01-2020 at 18:55

On the occasion of the publication of the “Luanda Leaks” survey, the Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo agreed to answer written questions from Radio France Internationale on the main allegations raised by the International Consortium of Journalists from investigation (ICIJ) and 36 partner media, including RFI.

RFI : The Angolan government accuses you of having made Sonangol and Sodiam lose more than a billion dollars. Your assets are frozen for that in Angola. What do you say ?

Sindika Dokolo : What the government claims could be covered by the shares in Unitel or Galp. Therefore, why freeze all our actions and even our personal accounts? There is a will to harm us.

For you, is it political?

Even the timing of this investigation is suspicious. One of our law firms, PLMJ, had already been hacked in 2015. We knew that several of our other companies have since been targeted by a Portuguese hacker, these documents have been kept and are used today to make hand low on our assets abroad. They use the press to manipulate opinion and foreign governments.

So there is a form of conspiracy for you?

This is Armageddon, the regime claims to do it in the name of the fight against corruption, but they do not attack the agents of public enterprises accused of embezzlement, just a family that operates in the private sector. But it doesn't scare me of losing everything, I already experienced this with my father. They have to be really politically afraid of my wife to do that. They want to make us responsible for all the corruption and bankruptcy of Angola. But we have 20,000 direct employees in Angola, thousands of others work in the Unitel and Zap points of sale, we pay taxes in Europe and we are the first tax contributor in Angola, we have worked and invested a lot in this country, more than anyone. We don't have a consolidated group, but we asked our teams to do the calculation. Last year, my wife paid $ 250 million in taxes for our taxable corporations in Angola.

How do you explain that you obtained a bonus via your Almerk company from Victoria Holding Limited for the purchase of Grisogono ? Especially since it is this money that you then use to invest in de Grisogono.

There is nothing unusual about the Almerk bonus. Nothing compelled me to reinvest it. The DG project had two aspects: an investment in reviving the company and an investment in the diamond supply platform from Angola. I ended up investing 115 million in the Grisogono company, the same amount as Sodiam, but I spent three to four times more to create the platform that would make de Grisogono a company comparable to Graff or to Beers.

But de Grisogono is not de Beers.

Yes, but that's what we wanted to do: create an Angolan “de Beers” from extraction to marketing, but Sodiam refused, this is one of the reasons for the failure of the surgery.

And why de Grisogono ? Has the company posted losses since 2007 ?

It would have been impossible for the Angolan state, as for us, to acquire another luxury jeweler. Do you know how much it costs? More than 10 billion for Tiffany's!

Sodiam claims to have invested more than you.

This is another lie. I invested 115 million in capital, like Sodiam, it is that established PwC (note: PricewaterhouseCoopers) and what was presented to the shareholders of Victoria Holding in November 2019. And I, I provided, in addition, permanently stocks of precious stones on credit which varied between 50 million and 200 million.

But at the start, in 2012, Sodiam brings more than you, it pays in particular the debts of de Grisogono ?

Sodiam invested more in the sales platform and I invested in the purchasing platform. It was Sodiam's first international transaction. Banks or regulators could have refused.

Sodiam says it has not benefited from the profits from sales of $ 2.3 billion in precious stones.

Let them produce the document that gave them a right to the profits. We even paid these diamonds at a higher price than other players on the market.

According to documents that we have been able to consult, are you and your company Odyssey one of Sodiam's privileged customers ?

I am not classified as a privileged customer. "Preferential customer" in Portuguese means approved customer with a contractual purchasing program with Sodiam. In the past 15 years, there have been more than fifteen. This is why it is ridiculous to assert that between authorized Sodiam buyers, there were price differences. This is a lie since the mines sold to different sellers during the year and there was an independent appraiser for all transactions.

But do you assure RFI that it pays more than the others ?

Sodiam has negotiated that we pay it 50% more than all its other buyers on behalf of the partnership in de Grisogono. The rest paid 5%. And we, 7.5% or 2.5% more.

What weighs heavily on de Grisogono's finances are marketing and promotional expenses.

You will tell me which big luxury brand spends less on promotion to become a global brand.

How do you explain that one suite and two rooms in a palace were paid for in your name by Victoria holding Limited during the 2012 Cannes Festival ?

They often put rooms in my name which were in fact rooms of celebrities who came at the last minute. Coming now to say that I took advantage of de Grisogono's hotel rooms makes no sense. For each fine jewelry exhibition, I had to supply 200 or 300 million goods. So blame me for 3 hotel rooms ... Why not accuse me of having taken free pens and pins?

Your family also maintains multiple business relationships with Sonangol. This is what the Angolan oil company accuses you of today. Your wife, in particular, is a partner of Sonangol in the shareholding of the mobile telephone company Unitel.

It was Isabel, the network architect who made Unitel successful and it was an excellent investment for Sonangol, these shares are now worth more than a billion dollars

How is it that you get 40 % stake in Esperaza, the joint venture with Sonangol which had just taken a stake in Galp ?

It is also an idea of ​​Isabel. Sonangol had neither the contacts nor the capacity to achieve such an ambitious financial package. I was on the same line. We had wanted to develop a campaign for Europe for a long time to promote Angola as an oil producer. The objective was to work on the entire chain from production to pumps, including refineries. This should not only allow us to buy ENI's shares in Galp, but also to attempt a merger-purchase with Cepsa. A large African producer allied with a refiner and distributor in the Iberian Peninsula.

Why did you not appear in the capital of Esperaza from the start ?

The purchase and sale contract dates from December 2006, but the Memorandum of understanding which enshrines the tripartite investment Amorim- Exem- Sonangol in Galp dates from January 2006. Besides, I am a director of the company from March or April 2006. So it's not frankly hidden.

In some documents, including public, in the media, your wife is presented as the true owner of the shares in Galp.

Exem has always belonged to me. Banks and all Dutch agents have always known this. I do not know where this information comes from.

Why did it take so long to reimburse your participation when you see the dividends produced by your participation in Galp ?

Sonangol did not want Esperaza to redistribute the dividends received from Amorim Energia BV because it had not yet changed its investment vehicle and would have paid taxes twice. Once in Europe and once in Angola.

So Sonangol's dividends are still there on Esperaza's account ?

And mine too. I have almost 35 million euros in dividends blocked in Esperaza. There was never any risk of defaulting on the $ 75 million debt. This shareholder loan is guaranteed by all of my shares, which amount to 800 million euros and which therefore cover more than 10 times the value of the debt.

Sonangol reproaches you for having repaid this debt in kwanza, the Angolan national currency, when it was due in dollars, and this, one month before the departure of your wife from the head of Sonangol ?

Sonangol was in near cessation of payment and asked us to advance the repayment periods which were normally expected a year later, we negotiated and obtained to pay this amount in kwanza.

Why did you pay 11 billion kwanzas instead of the 14 billion that represented in October 2017 your shares in Esperaza, there is a difference of 12 million dollars ?

In any case, the 11 billion was the last balance, including interest. We had already paid 15% of the share price on December 18, 2006. The rest was due on December 31, 2017. This probably explains this difference.

So it has nothing to do with the fact that your wife was still the head of Sonangol and that your stepfather was no longer president ?

It has nothing to do with it. I would like us to be serious for two minutes. It's known. Sonangol ran out of dollars because of the drop in oil prices. My wife got majors when she arrived so that she could pay in kwanza her share of employee salaries, rentals and other expenses in kwanza. And at that time, kwanzas did not grow on trees. Sonangol needed it. I had one that was stuck in Angola. It was a win-win partnership.

But how do you explain that some of your companies like Wise or Almerk are paid to hire subcontractors to help public companies ?

Wise, Almerk or any other related company that charges for a service bring real added value. Manage, structure financing, restructure debts, source specific skills, define and support the implementation of new processes, provide support for cash management of different projects, do an audit, study a merger or acquisition (M&A). In short, it is real added value that has a cost and deserves remuneration.

How to explain the purchase of a condo of more than 50 million in Monaco ?

It is a real estate investment. We do not live in Monaco. There is nothing illegal, I do not see what there is to comment on.

Why not have bought it yourself ? Why go through a company in Malta ?

My family was robbed by Mobutu in 86. Without further ado, Mobutu said in a sentence that remains famous in my family: "Take everything. Leave him his car and his house. I have always lived in the dread of the political settling of accounts so unfortunately frequent in Africa. I was right, apparently. Since our property was returned to us by the Sovereign National Conference in 1991, my family has always favored complex holding arrangements in order to be protected as much as possible from the spoliation of political powers.

But why do you systematically use financial vehicles based in tax-advantaged places, or even in tax havens ?

It is very difficult for someone from Angola or the DRC who are countries completely blacklisted on the European markets to open a bank account on European soil. If you are like me a politically exposed personality since 2001, it is of the order of the impossible. I can be criticized for using financial vehicles housed in tax havens, but is this illegal? First, I do not use it for investments in Europe. I only use them because Angola does not have a double taxation system. There is no reason why I should pay my taxes twice.

Have you given instructions to hide the fact that you are the owner or shareholder of certain companies ?

No, and in any case, it is never hidden, the banks know it, the partners know it. When I told you about using complex holdings, it was to protect us from the malicious press or from politicians.

Much has been said about the loans you give to your companies. At the end of 2014, you had more than one billion loans, in particular from Portuguese Angolan banks in which your wife had a share. Isn't that a lot ?

We don't have a group with my wife, but our companies have a combined turnover of $ 2 billion. Our loans are always guaranteed.

Why do you, like Crown corporations, invest almost exclusively on loans ?

It's a bit like the principle of capitalism: do as much as possible with what you have, work with a good multiplier effect of the investment to have the highest possible return on investment. The risk is to lose. You should always record successes and maintain your credibility and the seriousness of your teams. This allows you to always keep enough assets to allow you to repay when necessary.

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