Angola’s Isabel dos Santos criticizes UK ‘dirty money’ sanctions

Angolan tycoon Isabel dos Santos, once dubbed “Africa’s richest woman,” criticized the UK for imposing sanctions on her, telling the BBC the move came as a surprise as she had not been found guilty of “any corruption.” in any court in any country.”

Last month, the daughter of Angola’s former president was described by the UK government as a “notorious kleptocrat” and punished with an asset freeze and travel ban for allegedly diverting wealth from oil-rich Angola.

He said the Angolan government was behind a campaign to tarnish its image.

“At the end of the day, it’s political,” Dos Santos, 51, told the BBC Africa Daily podcast from his base in Dubai.

“There was no investigation where someone came and investigated and examined the evidence or asked me to clarify the matter. There was no due process,” he said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the sanctions on Dos Santos as part of his campaign to crack down on “dirty money”.

A government statement supposedly had “systematically abused his positions in state-owned companies to embezzle at least £350 million ($442 million), depriving Angola of resources and funding for much-needed development.”

A spokesman for Angola’s attorney general said it was not a political institution and was only investigating evidence of alleged criminality. They said she had been accused of several crimes and that was why she needed to defend herself.

A British Foreign Office spokesperson said that under the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulation, the UK could “designate an individual where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the individual is or has been involved in serious corruption”. They also noted that anyone sanctioned could request a review at any time.

The allegations against Dos Santos, which she denies, were first made in 2020 when BBC Panorama reported on leaked documents which had been shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The complaint, known as “Luanda Leaks”, alleged that one of the most suspicious deals had been made through a London-based company.

Dos Santos, the eldest daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, in power from 1979 to 2017, was educated in private schools in the United Kingdom during Angola’s long civil war.

After graduating as an electrical engineer from King’s College London, she began working in an office for a consulting company in Europe.

But in his early twenties, Dos Santos decided he wanted to pursue a more entrepreneurial career at home and told the BBC he started by delivering cases of beer, Uber-style, to restaurants and stores.

He then built a huge business empire, creating a mobile phone company, a satellite television operator, a commercial bank, a brewery and a cement factory, with stakes in other companies in Angola and Portugal.

A month before her 40th birthday, she entered Forbes magazine’s rich list and was not only said to be the richest woman in Africa but also the youngest billionaire on the continent.

Dos Santos told BBC Africa Daily that she never considered herself that way, but she did see herself as a “pioneer.”

“I am also the largest private employer in my country. I have created more than 200,000 jobs. I have been one of the largest contributors to my country and have contributed the most to building Angola’s economy.”

In 2016, she was put in charge of the controversial state oil company Sonangol. His appointment was questioned by critics at the time, but the Supreme Court upheld it, he said.

“I had experience in the private sector. I have a particular understanding of how to transform companies… that are not doing well, to drive them toward efficiency.”

Some of the most serious corruption allegations against him date back to his time as head of Sonangol.

Within months of her father resigning in 2017, her chosen successor, President Joao Lourenço, fired her and two years later her assets were frozen.

Angola’s former first daughter believes that Lourenço, who attacked the Dos Santos family as part of an anti-corruption campaign, has betrayed her father: “He started blaming the past, saying that everything that had happened before him was bad.

“But he himself belongs to the MPLA (in power), he was vice president of the party and Minister of Defense.

“If anything, I think it had a lot more to do with the Angolan economy and political decision-making and decision-making than most Angolans.”

Dos Santos is also angry that, despite her assets being frozen in Angola five years ago, the case has yet to be heard in court, something she says would normally happen within 18 months at most, as It is a civil case that tends to involve accusations of unpaid debts. She says she is not facing any criminal proceedings.

He also alleges that the original freezing order was based on false documents, including a passport in his name with the signature of the late martial arts expert Bruce Lee.

The spokesman for Angola’s attorney general said they would not publicly discuss the details of any ongoing legal dispute, but said any evidence that the documents had been falsified should be presented to the court.

In 2021, Forbes removed her from its list of top billionaires: Dos Santos explains that the asset freeze means she can no longer receive dividend payments and cannot receive financial contributions from her companies.

The mother of three has also had to deal with personal loss in recent years: her husband died in a diving accident and when her father died in 2022, she did not return to Angola to attend his funeral.

If she returned to Angola, she could be arrested; At the government’s behest, Interpol has issued a Red Notice, which is a request to “locate and provisionally arrest” someone, although it is not an international arrest warrant.

Dos Santos says that after these difficult years and new asset freezes, he now wants people to hear his side of a “complex” story to “hopefully start clearing up the misconceptions that are out there.”

When asked if he would ever run for president, he said it was “a possibility”, echoing comments he made to the BBC four years ago.

“Look, I will always serve my country,” he said. “To lead is to serve, and I wish to serve Angola, whether in politics, business, philanthropy or culture.”