Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos has dismissed the latest criminal charges against her as politically motivated and part of a campaign to prevent her from running for the presidency.
The Angolan public prosecutor has accused Ms. Dos Santos of 12 crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, and abuse of power, related to her tenure as chair of the state-owned oil company Sonangol from 2016 to 2017, according to reports by Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Ms Dos Santos is the daughter of former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the oil-rich country for 38 years until he stepped down in 2017. She has been living in exile since 2019 when her assets were frozen by the Angolan authorities as part of a corruption probe.
She has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that she is the victim of a witch-hunt by the current president, João Lourenço, who has vowed to fight graft and recover stolen funds from the previous regime.
“Isabel dos Santos rejects these trumped-up charges by the Angolan government which have been launched as part of a sustained campaign of political persecution against her by President Lourenço,” her lawyer Dan Morrison said in a statement to the BBC.
He added that Ms. Dos Santos was “presently engaged in court proceedings in various jurisdictions to clear her name” and that the Angolan authorities aimed to “intimidate her from returning to Angola so she is unable to run for political office”.
Ms. Dos Santos has expressed interest in running for the presidency in several media interviews over the past few years but has not officially declared her candidacy. The next presidential election in Angola is scheduled for 2024.
The latest indictment against Ms. Dos Santos was filed on 11 December, but the Angolan attorney general’s office said it could not comment on the matter as it was “under judicial secrecy”.
Ms Dos Santos is also facing an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol in 2022, at the request of the Angolan authorities, who accuse her of embezzling more than $1bn from Sonangol.
She is also being investigated in Portugal, where she holds citizenship and has extensive business interests, for alleged money laundering and tax evasion.
Ms Dos Santos was once considered Africa’s richest woman, with an estimated fortune of $2bn, according to Forbes magazine. However, she is no longer included on the list of the world’s wealthiest people because her assets are under dispute in various territories.
Ms Dos Santos has maintained that she built her wealth through hard work and entrepreneurship and that she never benefited from her father’s position or influence.
She has also accused the Angolan government of mismanaging the economy and failing to address the social problems that affect millions of Angolans, such as poverty, unemployment, and poor health care.
Despite its vast natural resources, Angola remains one of the world’s poorest countries, ranked 165th out of 189 on the Human Development Index by the United Nations. According to the World Bank, more than 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, and the country has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.
However, some analysts and activists have praised President Lourenço’s efforts to reform the political and economic system and to improve the country’s relations with the international community.
They have also welcomed the anti-corruption drive that has targeted several former officials and relatives of José Eduardo dos Santos, who are accused of plundering the state coffers and siphoning off public funds to offshore accounts.
Among them are Ms. Dos Santos’ half-brother José Filomeno dos Santos, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020 for fraud and influence peddling, and her husband Sindika Dokolo, who died in a diving accident in Dubai in 2020, and who was also facing charges of money laundering and embezzlement.
Ms Dos Santos has said that she hopes to return to Angola one day and contribute to the development of her country, but only if she is guaranteed a fair trial and respect for her human rights.
She has also called for dialogue and reconciliation among Angolans and urged the government to focus on creating opportunities and improving the living conditions of the people, rather than persecuting its opponents.
Source: BBC
