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Court case reveals corruption-accused Isabel dos Santos has bank accounts in SA

Court case reveals corruption-accused Isabel dos Santos has bank accounts in SA
Former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos. Dos Santos died aged 79 on 8 July 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. He ruled as Angolan head of state from 1979 to 2017. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Tiago Petinga)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
15 Jan 2024
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The superrich daughter of Angola’s former president, who became known for running one of the most corrupt regimes in Africa during his four-decade reign, is battling courts that are freezing her assets. 

When Angola’s former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, visited South Africa in 2010, then president Jacob Zuma warmly welcomed him.

“It was with the moral and material support of the Angolan people that we managed to defeat apartheid,” Zuma said.

“It is appropriate that the two nations that fought so hard against apartheid and colonialism together are now united in fighting for freedom from poverty and for an improved quality of life for the Angolan and South African people.”

In the years since then, other features have ironically — and infuriatingly — further unified South Africa and Angola.

Dos Santos ruled Angola for 38 years before stepping down in 2017 when João Lourenco became president, turning on his predecessor in a major anti-corruption campaign. Dos Santos died in 2022, leaving behind a legacy of heading a corrupt regime.

When Zuma resigned in 2018, corruption allegations were mounting against him and he left behind a country still grappling with the State Capture that mushroomed during his term.

Both countries are now known for the diversion of government funds and dealings to enrich a few. This is where Dos Santos’s billionaire daughter Isabel, who was once Africa’s richest woman, fits in.

She has been widely accused of corruption in Angola, with complaints including that state funds were channelled to companies in which she and her husband Sindika Dokolo, who died in 2020, were involved. That year the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published the Luanda Leaks, revealing reams of details around the fact that “Isabel dos Santos made a fortune at the expense of the Angolan people”.

angola dos santos,José Eduardo dos Santos Former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos. Dos Santos died aged 79 on 8 July 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. He ruled as Angolan head of state from 1979 to 2017. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Tiago Petinga)


Assets frozen


Isabel has denied the accusations against her, saying she is the target of underhanded political dealings. However, her denials have not prevented legal action against her and what she owns.

In 2019, various bank accounts and shareholdings linked to her were frozen in Angola. The following year a similar order was made in terms of her assets in Portugal. Other such orders have also been made.

Read more in Daily Maverick: The noose is closing on Angola’s Isabel dos Santos and stolen loot stashed away in other countries

Some details about her assets are contained in a 20 December 2023 London High Court ruling against her in a case in which £580-million of her assets were frozen. The Angolan telecommunications company Unitel sued Isabel and pushed for the freezing order.

According to the judgment, she had been the beneficial owner of 25% of Unitel until late 2020. She had also owned and controlled Unitel International Holdings (UIH), a Dutch company.

The judgment said that in 2012 and 2013 Unitel made a series of loans to UIH, which it believed were “given at unjustifiably low rates of interest and without any significant security”. Unitel said Isabel procured the loans to benefit UIH and, “ultimately, for her own personal benefit”.

The judgment said Isabel denied the loans were “uncommercial” or that she acted in breach of her duty. “She also says that these proceedings are a political campaign against her, brought at the instigation of the current government of Angola,” it said.

The judgment contained other details about Isabel’s assets. It said, according to a member of Unitel’s legal team, many of her “significant assets” consist of high-value real estate. Isabel had properties in the UK, Monaco and Dubai.

Bank accounts in SA


The judgment added: “Unitel has also identified various bank accounts held by Ms Dos Santos, her late husband or one of their companies, in this country and in Angola, Portugal, the BVI [British Virgin Islands], South Africa and elsewhere.”

Unitel knew Isabel had a UK bank account as well as various foreign ones, but it did not know what was in them as of October 2022. This aspect of the judgment suggests that she could have money in South Africa.

In November 2022 it was widely reported that Interpol issued a red notice — the international request for authorities to provisionally arrest a listed figure — for Isabel.

Interpol’s president is Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). (It just so happens that Jackie Selebi, once head of the South African Police Service, was also a president of Interpol; he went on to be convicted of corruption.)

The haven that’s Dubai


It is believed that Isabel now spends time in the UAE city of Dubai. A verified Instagram account under her name often shows her out and about and suggests that she is not in hiding. Last week a short video clip was shared to the profile showing Isabel sitting on a chair on a pristine beach.

It seems presidential progenies enjoy Dubai — Zuma’s son Duduzane has also been known to hang out there.

So too have Atul and Rajesh Gupta, who are buddies of Zuma and are wanted in South Africa in connection with State Capture crimes. They are among the key individuals focused on in the Gupta Leaks, South Africa’s version of the Luanda Leaks.

In June 2022 Atul and Rajesh Gupta were arrested in Dubai. A third brother, Ajay Gupta, was not detained.

The Dubai police issued a statement saying the brothers had been taken into custody “in connection with money laundering and criminal charges in South Africa”.

But in April last year, it emerged that South Africa’s request to extradite the brothers from the UAE was turned down during a hearing in Dubai that took place the previous month. It later emerged they acquired citizenship in Vanuatu.

The Guptas, via Dubai, have so far avoided being held accountable in South Africa. This may also prove to be the case with Isabel and Angola. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.

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