Angola: Isabel dos Santos, "Princess of Luanda" Who Tries to Save Her Fortune

Rarely Isabel dos Santos had been so present in the media. Press releases, interviews, tweets, the daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Angola with an iron fist for 38 years (1979-2017), organized his counterattack.

Since the beginning of the year, the 46-year-old businesswoman has multiplied the declarations to defend her economic and financial empire which extends to Angola and Portugal. Telecommunications, media, banks, energy, diamonds, mass distribution, real estate ... All of its activities exceed three billion dollars (or more than 2.7 billion euros), according to Forbes, who named her woman richest in Africa.

"My 'fortune' was born with my character, my intelligence, my education, my work capacity, my perseverance", she defended herself on Twitter Sunday January 19, in the evening. "Today, with sadness, I continue to see 'racism' and 'prejudice', which remind us of the era of 'colonies' in which no African can be worth as much as a 'European'". His tweet was the first in a series of 30 posted in stride.

A minha “fortuna” nasceu com meu caracter, minha inteligência, educação, capacidade de trabalho, perseverança.Hoje com tristeza continuo a ver o “racismo” e “preconceito” da Sic-Expresso, fazendo recordar a era das “colônias” em que nenhum Áfricano pode valer o mesmo que um “Europeu”

Isabel dos Santos defends herself following the judicial investigation opened in Angola since September against her for embezzlement of public funds. Luanda court, which froze bank accounts and assets in Angolan businesses in December, suspects businesswoman, along with Danish Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo, of embezzling more than $ 1 billion dollars from public enterprise accounts via offshore companies. Among them, a Dubai company, Matter Business Solutions DMCC, managed by its financial advisor and whose sole shareholder is a Portuguese friend of the billionaire.

His accusations were supported by revelations from the "Luanda Leaks", published on Sunday January 19. The investigation of the international consortium of investigative journalists (ICIJ), made up of 37 media including RFI, highlights the details of the financial arrangements used, as well as the names of the companies which helped it.

Among these companies are the national telecoms giant, Unitel, the national oil company Sonangol, the state diamond company, Sodiam, as well as the Cimangola cement plant, recently created with Sindika Dokolo.

Isabel dos Santos denounces "a witch hunt"

Since then, the richest woman in Africa, settled in London, continues to denounce a "witch hunt" of the Angolan authorities intended, according to her, to discredit her, as well as her father. "I have never benefited from a billion dollars out of the Angolan wallet," she repeated on BBC News. In the country, two-thirds of the population live on less than two dollars a day, according to the World Bank.

Throughout her life, the oldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos has been accused of taking advantage of the favors of her father, who had been in power for almost four decades. From the 1990s, the woman who was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and who studied electrical management and engineering in London, returned to Luanda to pursue a career in the emerging mobile phone industry.

The consortium for which she worked at the time won the public call for tenders and won the license for mobile telecommunications. She has since repeatedly denied suspicions of influence in this matter.

In the media, the one who was baptized "the princess of Luanda" creates the image of an independent businesswoman. She tells The Economist in particular that she founded Unitel - which has now become the largest operator in the whole country - in an office above a shop where she sold phones. "The press calls me a princess. I don't know many princesses who get out of bed and build supermarkets," she said.

Santos dos nepotism

Some recognize him as a manager. A Luanda businessman described him as "ruthless and very lively," reports The Guardian. In 2007, the Portuguese newspaper Público mentions "a business woman, extremely intelligent and dynamic, as professional as sympathetic".

But allegations of nepotism by the ex-president grow as the business empire of Isabel dos Santos grows. Especially in 2016, when her father appointed her to head the national oil company Sanongol.

Faced with accusations of corruption by the Angolan justice, the businesswoman puts forward economic arguments. She recalls having paid a total of $ 200 million in taxes to the state and says she fears that the sanctions of the justice jeopardize its 20,000 Angolan employees. But justice cut short by stating that the freeze only concerns his private accounts.

Since then, she has denounced a political plot. In the British newspaper The Guardian, his lawyer speaks of a "perfectly coordinated attack" by the current leader of Angola, Joao Lourenço. Since coming to power in 2017, the president has embarked on a spectacular fight against corruption.

In a few months, he dismissed Isabel dos Santos from his post as CEO of Sonangol and his half-brother, José Filomeno dos Santos, as head of the country's sovereign wealth fund. Her half-sister, Welwitschia dos Santos, was ousted as an MP last year after fleeing to the UK, saying she was harassed by the Angolan secret service.

2022 presidential candidate

The business woman does not hear anything drop. In an interview with the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP, she said she plans to seek the supreme magistracy of her country in 2022. "It is possible," she said. "I will do whatever I have to do to defend and serve (...) my country". This announcement marks a turning point for the woman who has always presented herself as an entrepreneur with no interest in politics.

The fact remains that Isabel Dos Santo has not returned to Luanda since 2018. "Because today, Angola lives in a situation of insecurity, she defended herself in the press last month. The crime is very high, there are a lot of thefts, there are a lot of murders. It's not a safe place. "

She also repeatedly stressed that her life would be in danger if she returned there in the current circumstances. The applicant should be formally charged by early March, a judicial source in Luanda warned.

Newsletter Don't miss anything from international news

subscribe