Luanda Leaks
On January 19, 2020, a consortium of international newspapers disclosed the documents of the so-called Luanda Leaks, who denounced that Isabel dos Santos, daughter of ex-president José Eduardo dos Santos (JES) and considered one of the richest women on the planet, diverted more than US $ 100 million from Sonangol to a subordinate company with the justification of paying consulting services (Matter Business Solutions). Isabel dos Santos had been appointed as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Angolan oil company by her father1, in June 2016, and was dismissed by president João Lourenço, in November 2017. According to Luanda Leaks, Isabel dos Santos and his husband Sindika Dokolo, who died in the meantime on October 29, 2020, in Dubai2, participated in 423 companies, 155 of which were Portuguese and 99 Angolan and their influence extended to 25 countries. A week after the release of Luanda Leaks, it became known that the real whistleblower, who gave rise to Luanda Leaks, was Rui Pinto.
However, as of December 30, 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court had decreed the preventive seizure of bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos, Sindika Dokolo, and Mário Leite da Silva, at the request of the Angolan National Asset Recovery Service. Mário Leite da Silva was the former manager of Isabel dos Santos and was chairman of the Board of Directors of Banco do Fomento de Angola, a position from which he resigned after Luanda Leaks3.
The complicity of the Portuguese elite
From the first hour of Luanda Leaks’ disclosure, an issue immediately arose: that of the complicity of the Portuguese elite in business and in the action of Isabel dos Santos. The day after the release, Catarina Martins reminded the Portuguese partners of Isabel dos Santos’ businesses: the Sonae, Amorim, and BPI groups, namely. The blockade coordinator then defended that the Portuguese State should “not only collaborate in everything with justice but also open negotiations with the Angolan government to guarantee the functioning of companies that are so fundamental to the Portuguese economy”.
The book “Os Donos Angolanos de Portugal”, by Jorge Costa, Francisco Louçã and João Teixeira Lopes, published in 2014, which already denounced the links between the richest woman in Africa and the Portuguese economic elite, was also recalled. Esquerda.net prepared the Luanda Leaks dossier, which included the article “Isabel dos Santos’ ties with the Portuguese economic elite”, with excerpts from the aforementioned book.
In another article in the same dossier, Luís Branco recalled what the Portuguese parties said about the kleptocracy installed in Angola? And Jorge Costa remembered the former Portuguese governors in Angolan business. The complicity of some of the great world consultants in the assembly of the empire of Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo was also denounced in Luanda Leaks and addressed in this dossier. It refers to companies like PwC, Delloite, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Boston Consulting. A video of just over two minutes summarized the complicities: Laços de Poder: a soap opera produced between Portugal and Angola.
The blockade coordinator warned of the urgency for the Portuguese government to act in relation to Isabel dos Santos’ holdings in Portuguese strategic companies and the Block recalled the award of the medal of the city of Porto to Sindika Dokolo, demanding that it be withdrawn, which was refused by the mayor.
However, it was disclosed in Luanda that the attorney general had announced the constitution of a defendant to Isabel dos Santos on suspicion of embezzlement and mismanagement during the period in which he was president of Sonangol. Luaty Beirão and journalist Rafael Marques, Angolan personalities who for years denounced corruption at the top of the regime, commented on Luanda Leaks in the Angolan capital and saluted Angolan justice.
Powerful triumvirate delivers 1,000 million
Throughout this year, corruption linked to the closest figures of former President José Eduardo dos Santos began to be tried in Angola. In February, properties valued at US $ 600 million by Generals Kopelipa and Dino and former Vice President Manuel Vicente were arrested, while in Portugal Isabel dos Santos’ accounts were frozen by court order. In June, it was learned that the daughter of the ex-president had money in coffers in Porto, 280 million were arrested. A nephew of Eduardo dos Santos, General “Kangamba”, accused of fraud, was arrested when he tried to flee his country. In April, Manuel Vicente, former vice president, and General Dino were accused of embezzling money from Angola, with 296 million being appointed. Filomeno dos Santos ‘Zenu’, son of José Eduardo dos Santos,
In October, the former vice-president of Angola and generals Kopelipa and Dina, investigated for corruption, handed over assets worth more than US $ 1 billion to the Angolan state. Manuel Vicente and generals Kopelipa and Dino constituted a powerful triumvirate during the presidency of José Eduardo dos Santos. “They form the triumvirate that today dominates the political economy of Angola, with no distinction between public and private,” accused journalist Rafael Marques in 2011 (see on left.net: Presidency of the Republic: The Epicenter of Corruption in Angola).
At the end of last July, it had been known that the media group that this triumvirate possessed, the TV Zimbo group, had passed to the Angolan state.
This December, the Public Television of Angola – TPA – showed alleged acts of corruption by Manuel Vicente and generals Kopelipa and Dino are prohibited from leaving Angola by the Attorney General’s Office.
Freedom of expression, reference of all the citizen struggle in Angola
The so-called Arab spring marked the situation in Angola in 2011 and in the following years. As mentioned in an article published on esquerda.net in 2013, for young people this movement was an inspiring example for the fight against a President of the Republic in power since 1979, in the fight against the glaring social inequalities and in the defense of freedoms and Rights Humans. But, if it was an inspiration for young people, it was also a “nuisance” for power, as was pointed out in an article published on Left.net in 2011. In 2015, in the fight for the freedom of the 17 political prisoners, we highlighted the “dread ”Of the regime:“ Especially since 2011 and the so-called Arab Spring, José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been president for 36 years, seems to live in the fear that a movement with similar characteristics will develop in Angola.
In this year of 2020, with the fight against corruption developing in a different Presidency of the Republic, on the one hand, and with the pandemic, on the other, it would be feared that the role of Angolan “civil society” would be attenuated, despite the worsening economic and social difficulties of the majority of the population. However, that is not what happened.
The old tendency of MPLA authorities to face social and economic problems with repression has manifested itself, throughout the year, in many areas, sectors, and provinces, such as, for example, on May 5 in Gabela, Amboim, with the assault on the provincial secretary of Cuanza Sul of the Democratic Bloc. And also in Benguela, with police forces demolishing houses, at the service of the municipal administration of the ruling party (MPLA). As in other cases and situations, all over the country.
2020 Demonstrations: The Citizen Struggle for Freedoms
The October 24 demonstration in Luanda meant the resumption of popular participation in the situation in Angola, action by civil society, and the initiative of Angolan youth, given the MPLA’s “renewed” power and the new presidency of João Lourenço.
The demands of the March for Citizenship were, and have been, “the end of the high cost of living” and local elections in 2021, “without any problems”. The call for a citizen demonstration meant, in itself, the resurgence of the struggle for freedom and, in particular, the defense of the right to demonstrate.
The regime reacted again with brutal police repression, as in the past, and also with the arrest and trial of more than one hundred people. According to the Angolan and international press, the march had more than two thousand people, despite the threats and the climate of fear.
Over the course of several days, 103 people were detained in inhumane conditions and were coerced into a summary trial. Civil society’s stand against repression has increased, as have reports of violations by authorities and international condemnations. However, intimidating statements by the governor of Luanda and the police continued to prevail. As a result of the trial, 71 people were convicted of disobedience. And, a new demonstration was called for 11 November. In the announcement of the new march, activist Dito Dali declared: “We have an executive who closes in, a totally arrogant President, who is not open to dialogue with society”.
On the 45th anniversary of the Independence of Angola, the police repression was again violent, the young student Innocent de Matos was killed, becoming a symbol of the revolt.
A new demonstration was called for November 21, which finally took place without incident. The leader of the Democratic Bloc Filomeno Vieira Lopes emphasized on Facebook: “It is clear that the state of a calamity does not prevent the exercise of this Fundamental Freedom of a rule of law”.
Luanda governor prohibits, National Police authorizes
On December 10, another demonstration against the high cost of living and for municipalities in 2021 took place in Luanda and, again without incident.
This time, the coordination of the initiative was surprised to learn that “there was no consultation between the provincial government and the national police”. “For the sake of the demonstration, we kept and ignored the letter from the governor [banning the initiative], promoting the agreement with the police,” said Pedrowski Teca, of the march coordinator.
In a meeting with the leaders of the national defense and security forces 5, the President of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço, stated on December 17: “It is not acceptable to accept gratuitous excesses from the forces of order, nor are they to accept gratuitous excesses on the part of the demonstrators ”, adding that“ the ultimate aim of a demonstration is to draw the attention of the authorities to situations that the citizens believe can be improved, corrected, for the benefit of the communities ”.
Statements that make it clear that the struggle for freedoms will continue to be at the forefront of Angolan civil society.
Reconciliation with the families of the victims of May 27, 1977
In this context, of course, reconciliation with the victims of May 27, 1977, remains to be seen, as left.net reported in articles by José Reis and Edgar Valles. As Luís Leiria pointed out, the “reconciliation proposed by the Angolan government to the orphans and relatives of the victims of May 27, 1977, will be a farce if it does not include the location of the bodies and the identification of those responsible”.
The orientation of the current government of Luanda, in the policy of “Reconciliation and Forgiveness”, as pointed out by Edgar Valles, is that “victims and supporters are placed on the same plane”.
In relation to the demonstrations, João Lourenço says that they are not accepting “excesses” of the forces of order “, nor” excesses “of the demonstrators, in the policy of reconciliation, the power puts victims and torturers on an equal footing.
The concern to defend the previous MPLA policy does not solve the problems, it maintains the injustices and can even aggravate them again, as well as the inequalities.
Article by Carlos Santos .
Notes:
1 https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_dos_Santos
2 https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindika_Dokolo
3 https://www.cmjornal.pt/mundo/detalhe/luanda-leaks–mario-leite-silva-gestor-de-isabel-dos-santos-renuncia-a-presidencia-do-banco-de-fomento-angola
4 ‘Zenú’ was chairman of the board of directors of Fundo Soberano de Angola between 2013 (appointed by JES) and 2017, when he was exonerated by João Lourenço. (wikipedia)
5 http://www.novojornal.co.ao/politica/interior/pr-pede-contencao-as-forcas-da-ordem-nas-manifestacoes-mas-avisa-que-nao-se-podem-aceitar-excessos-por-parte-dos-manifestantes-99062.html
