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USA: Isabel dos Santos’ five suspicious deals

The deviations from Sonangol, the participation in Galp, the loan from Unitel, the diamonds from the jewelry, and the land in Luanda. Meet the five businesses exposed at Luanda Leaks.
 
 
Maximum pressure on Isabel dos Santos. Known as the “princess” of Africa, the manager is again under scrutiny, after a leak of information exposed how the also daughter of the former president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, will have enriched at the expense of the Angolan state.
 
These were the five suspicious deals that were at the base of Luanda Leaks, the dossier coordinated by the International Investigative Journalists Consortium (ICIJ), released this Sunday in media such as BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde – and, in Portugal, by Expresso. Isabel dos Santos denies any wrongdoing and guarantees that business is “clean”.
  • The diversion of money from Sonangol
 
One of the most suspicious cases concerns the alleged embezzlement of funds from the Angolan state oil company, Sonangol, of which Isabel dos Santos was executive president.
 
The businesswoman was placed in office in 2016 by a presidential decree signed by her father. But in September 2017, José Eduardo dos Santos left the power (after 38 years at the head of the country), having been replaced by João Lourenço. Despite being from the same party, Lourenço removed Isabel dos Santos from Sonangol in November of that year, two months after the change in the presidency.
 
It is at this point that a series of suspicious payments and deals take place. Specifically, at the beginning of November 16, Sonangol’s account had about US $ 57 million. At sunset, the same account was only $ 309, as The Guardian says.
 
At stake, a company called Matter Business Solutions, based in Dubai, a tax haven. Isabel dos Santos guarantees that she has no relationship with this company, but the documents exposed in the Luanda Leaks escape indicate that she is controlled by a friend of Isabel dos Santos, Paula Oliveira.
 
This company sent Sonangol half a hundred invoices at the time the Angolan businesswoman was “fired” from the Angolan public oil company, charging high amounts for alleged services, with very vague descriptions.
 
Isabel dos Santos, still at Sonangol, will have approved all payments, according to the BBC. Among them, one of more than 472 thousand euros for unspecified expenses and another of 928.5 thousand euros with the mere indication “legal expenses”. The press also notes two repeated invoices – totally the same, only with different numbers – of 676,300 euros. Both expenses were validated by Isabel dos Santos.
 
The businesswoman and Matter Business Solutions claim that the expenses related to work that was actually done and contracted. Isabel dos Santos says she did not approve any payment after being dismissed by João Lourenço. In total, according to Expresso, Sonangol’s transfers to Dubai totaled $ 115 million, from May to November 2017.
  • The purchase of the stake in Galp
 
A significant part of Isabel dos Santos’ fortune is related to a stake that the businesswoman indirectly holds in the Portuguese oil company Galp Energia.
 
Isabel dos Santos controls 40% of Esperaza, in partnership with Sonangol, which owns 60%. Esperaza is a shareholder of the holding company Amorim Energia, with 45%, with the remaining 55% belonging to the Amorim family. This holding company holds 33.44% of Galp’s capital. Accounts done, the entrepreneur is attributed to a “slice” of 6% in Galp.
 
Now, these shares were purchased from Sonangol by an Isabel dos Santos company in 2006. According to the BBC, Isabel dos Santos only had to pay “upfront” 15% of the total. And the remaining 63 million euros were converted into a generous “loan” from Sonangol itself, with 11-year maturity.
 
In 2017, Isabel dos Santos offered to pay the loan to Sonangol … at a time when she was the executive president of the oil company. The repayment was accepted, although it did not include nine million euros in interest, which would have remained unpaid. This happened six days before being “fired” from Sonangol, British television reports.
 
Today, Isabel dos Santos’ position at Galp is valued at more than 750 million euros. The businesswoman denies wrongdoing in the deal involving the Angolan state oil company, guaranteeing that she paid what Sonangol said was due and that the company itself had capital gains from the operation.
  • The Unitel loan

In 1999, José Eduardo dos Santos granted the license to Unitel, the largest telecommunications company in Angola. In 2000, Isabel dos Santos acquired a 25% stake in the company, a position that is currently valued at US $ 1 billion and which has already guaranteed the company another billion in dividends.

Now, as a shareholder of Unitel, the businesswoman set up a new company, called Unitel International Holdings. Despite having the name “Unitel”, the two companies had no relationship, the latter being totally controlled by Isabel dos Santos.

The businesswoman obtained a loan of $ 350 million from Unitel International Holdings to the real Unitel. And Isabel dos Santos herself gave the loan the “green light” on the side of the company that lent and the one that received the loan, the BBC alleges, which refers to a clear conflict of interest.

The businesswoman guarantees, however, that the loan was approved by the administrations of both companies, and that the loan protected Unitel from possible currency fluctuations.

  • Purchasing jewelry

Another suspicious deal involves, more specifically, Sindika Dokolo, Isabel dos Santos’ husband.

According to the BBC, in 2012, Dokolo closed an agreement with the Angolan state-owned company Sodiam, which explores the diamond business, to form a partnership to buy Swiss luxury jewelry De Grisogono. Despite assuming a partnership “in socks”, Sodiam paid the “invoice”.

18 months after the closing of the purchase of De Grisogono, Sodiam had already invested $ 79 million in the partnership, while Isabel dos Santos’ husband had invested only four million. Dokolo benefited from a success fee of five million dollars, so he ended up not having to invest equity.

But Luanda Leaks’ documents exposed an even more damaging deal to Angolan public coffers. In fact, Sodiam paid the jewelry using a loan from the Portuguese bank EuroBic with 9% interest and with a state guarantee, granted by decree signed by the father of Isabel dos Santos, who was then president of Angola. Isabel dos Santos controls at least 42.5% of the bank.

This guarantee was later activated. According to the BBC, the new leader of Sodiam, Bravo da Rosa, estimates that the diamond company will have lost “more than 200 million dollars” with this operation.

During the presidency of José Eduardo dos Santos, the head of state also gave Sindika Dokolo the rights to purchase some rough diamonds found on Angolan soil, at prices below the market value, damaging the public coffers by “more than a thousand million dollars ”, according to current government estimates.

Isabel dos Santos denies having any relationship with De Grisogono. But the Luanda Leaks documents show that the Angolan businesswoman is a shareholder in the jewelry.

  • The privileged land in Luanda

The documents on display at Luanda Leaks also show how Isabel dos Santos acquired land from the Angolan state in September 2017, with the help of presidential decrees signed by her father and paying below market value.

The BBC tells how a company by Isabel dos Santos acquired a piece of land with an area of ​​one square kilometer in Luanda, in a luxury location, by the sea. A document shows that the land was worth 96 million dollars, but that Isabel dos Santos paid 5% of that amount, committing herself to invest the remainder in a new development.

The British chain explains that about 500 Angolan families were “evicted” from their homes and relocated in precarious and isolated urbanization 50 kilometers from the Angolan capital. The conditions are “desperate”. The houses often flooded with sewage, are close to an open pit.

Isabel dos Santos denies that citizens have been “evicted” with this business and guarantees that their companies never received any amount, not least because the project was eventually canceled.

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