Insiders

Angolan courts could take action to seize dos Santos' assets abroad 'if necessary' - prosecution

January 13, 2020 at 05:41 am EST

Angolan courts have not taken any action to have billionaire ex-first daughter Isabel Dos Santos' assets seized abroad but "will not hesitate to resort to such mechanisms if necessary", a prosecution spokesman told Reuters.

The asset freeze pertaining to Isabel dos Santos, her husband Sindika Dokolo and associate Mario da Silva will not be treated as a corruption allegation because it is a civil matter related to debts owned to the state, spokesman Alvaro Joao said.

"The parties can resolve the case in a number of ways: recognising the debt to the state, and paying it, or taking it to the end of the case to let the courts decide," he said.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Writing by Noah Browning; editing by Louise Heavens)

Isabel dos Santos

Isabel dos Santos (born 1973 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR) is the daughter of Angola's President José Eduardo dos Santos and his first wife. She is an Angolan investor. She is considered by Forbes to be the richest woman in Africa and the most powerful and richest woman in her country. In 2013, according to research by Forbes, her net worth had reached more than two billion US Dollars, making her Africa’s first woman billionaire. Isabel studied electrical engineering at King's College in London. There she met her husband from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sindika Dokolo. Her husband is a son of a millionaire from Kinshasa and his Danish wife. There were reports, that when they got married in Luanda, in December 2002, the wedding ceremony cost about US$ 4 million, with a special choir flown in from Belgium and two planes chartered to bring food from France. About 800 guests were present at the wedding, half of them were relatives of the couple, The British newspaper Financial Times wrote, in March 2013, that “even some critics acknowledge Isabel dos Santos’s independent prowess as a businesswoman”. In the same interview, Isabel dos Santos says she does business and she is not a politician.

In the early 1990s she returned from London with her father to Luanda, started to work for a German recycling company, then, set up a trucking business. Here the development of a walkie-talkie system paved the way for her subsequent foray into telecoms. In the early 1990s, in Luanda, she started working as a project manager engineer for Urbana 2000, a subsidiary company of Jembas Group, that won the contract for cleaning and disinfection of the city. Over a period of nearly 20 years she expanded her business interests continuously and this led her to create several holdings, in Angola and mostly abroad, and to make substantial investments in a series of prestigious entreprises, especially in Portugal.

[dos Santos.jpg|thumb|right|Isabel Dos Santos on Forbes magazine.]
Investments in Portugal
Since 2008 she has had relevant interests in telecommunications, media, retail, finance and the energy industry, both in Angola and in Portugal. In addition to her commercial interest in oil and diamonds, Isabel dos Santos also owns shares in the Angola cement company Nova Cimangola. Jadeium, a company held by Isabel dos Santos, acquired 4.918% of ZON Multimedia shares from Spain’s Telefonica.

Through the Netherlands-based Unitel International Holdings BV, a company controlled by Isabel dos Santos, the Angolan businesswoman is the main shareholder of ZON Multimédia with 29 % since July 2012. She is member of the board of Angolan bank in Lisbon, Banco BIC Português, and through Santoro Holding she holds 20% stakes at Banco Português de Investimento. She has other major stakes with the Angolan state oil company Sonangol through their mutual European Law holding, based in the Netherlands, named Esperanza Holding, in Portuguese Galp Energia. Isabel dos Santos is a founding member and Board member of Banco BIC Português, which recently acquired Banco Português de Negócios, a nationalized bank.

Since November 2012 Isabel dos Santos is a non-executive board member of ZON.

All in all, Isabel dos Santos' fortune in Portugal in mid-2012 amounts to an estimated 1.4 billion Euros.

Investments in Angola
With 51% control of Condis, Isabel dos Santos signed a joint partnership with the Portuguese Sonae group in April 2011 for the development and operation of a retail trading company in Angola. The entry in Angola by the Portuguese group led by Paulo de Azevedo will be performed by the Continente (Angola), which will open the first supermarket by 2013 in Angola.

Concerns
The remarkable growth of Isabel dos Santos' involvement in the Portuguese communications sector has led to a position of concern in the Portuguese media. Newspapers expressed discontent with the latest transactions in 2012. According to some editorial, the operation can lead to a monopoly in some areas of the media business by centralizing Angola and Portugal. According to other editorial, Isabel dos Santos has said she has no interest to invest in Portuguese media. Moreover, Isabel dos Santos was also accused of political bias, such as inside information and contacts in Portugal. It seems a clear strategy of Isabel dos Santos in the Portuguese economy.by whom|date=March 2013 Over the past three years (2009-2012) her share has increased exponentially. The sectors that draw attention are the communication and the financial system. Both activities are the investment priorities in of her own companies in Angola and abroad. Isabel dos Santos, currently one of the greatest entrepreneurs of her country, expands its business to Europe without diversifying the industries it serves.

Unitel International Holdings BV (change of name of Kento and Jadeium, based in Amsterdam, company-vehicle for Isabel dos Santos’ investment in the Telecommunications sector)
Santoro Finance (based in Lisbon, company-vehicle for Isabel dos Santos’ investment in Banco BPI)
Esperanza (based in Amsterdam, energy, oil etc.)
Condis (based in Luanda, retail business.)
Ciminvest (Isabel dos Santos is an investor in Ciminvest SA)

Isabel dos Santos is the President of Angola Red Cross

Source @ Wikipedia

View full profile