Isabel dos Santos has built her empire across sectors: from an investment in a beach bar to stakes in oil, banking, finances and telecommunications, proved businesswoman. Her career as an entrepreneur would have been inspiring if it wasn’t for the fact that her father, José Eduardo dos Santos, was a dictator in Angola for 38 years. Dos Santos had access to high-powered networks and riches fuelled by public funds amassed by her father during his tenure. While she created her own multibillion-dollar empire, the Luanda Leaks – documents mined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – show how Dos Santos used tax consultants, lawyers and accountants to siphon millions out of Angola. Today, her empire is finally crumbling as she faces allegations of corruption, money laundering, and fraud. – Bernice Maune
Read also: Angola shows way on corruption: sends ex-president’s son to jail for fraud. Wall Street Journal
On Instagram, Isabel dos Santos has put up a brave front. She is active on the social networking platform, posting pictures of her youngest son and, up until recently, family vacations with her late husband, Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo – also implicated in corruption and who died suddenly in October while free-diving in Dubai.
In some of her images, her father José is spending quality time with his grandchildren in Barcelona, Spain. José moved to Europe in 2017 after falling ill and experiencing an increasingly hostile public environment. According to The Africa Report, he was under the impression his retirement would be peaceful, but he was in for a rude awakening as his successor, João Lourenço, has embarked on a vigorous anti-corruption drive.
Soon after Lourenço came into power, his public declarations of tackling corruption seemed directed towards the Dos Santos family. In one particular address, Lourenço said his government would crack down on those who had used public funds to set up private investments. His statement was a thinly-veiled warning to Dos Santos whose business empire had been widely documented for 20 years. American business magazine Forbes had also consistently called Dos Santos ‘the richest woman in Africa’, listing her multiple businesses valued at $2,1bn.
In September 2018, Lourenço became more blatant in his approach, saying that “the corruption, nepotism, flattery and impunity” of recent years was “enemy number one”.
“The MPLA must take the lead in this [anti-corruption] crusade, even if its militants or senior leaders are the first to fall,” he added.
José soon left for Barcelona on a private plane. Commentators said that was the final straw in a very fragile relationship between the two leaders as Lourenço begged his predecessor to stay. José has not been back to Angola since and is said to avoid any meetings and political commitments hosted by the MPLA (the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which José once led).
The rest of the Dos Santos family has felt the full effect of Lourenço’s anti-corruption crackdown:
- Eldest daughter Isabel dos Santos was removed from her position as president of the national oil company, Sonangol.
- José Filomeno, José’s first son, was axed from the Angolan sovereign wealth fund. He is facing fraud charges and is unable to leave Luanda as a result.
- Welwitschia dos Santos, Isabel’s half sister, left Angola for Europe after she was removed as a member of parliament due to ‘unjust enrichment’. She said she feared for her life.
Read also: Angolan state capture specialist found dead, as it’s game up for Africa’s richest.
Luanda Leaks drops bombshells
At the beginning of 2020, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and partners in 20 countries published the Luanda Leaks investigation. The New York Times, BBC, The Namibian and Expresso from Brazil are some of the publications which contributed. The documents were shared with the ICIJ by Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, an advocacy group from Paris.
The investigation lifts the lid on how Dos Santos amassed her fortunes, laying bare a complex system of offshore accounts and registered companies in about 42 countries around the world. Journalists and investigators poured over 700,000 documents, connecting the dots on how Dos Santos was able to hide and divert her riches – which were essentially taxpayer funds. Some of the shell companies were used as vehicles to store millions and avoid tax penalties, and the ICIJ also reported that advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was paid $1m to help Dos Santos stash funds.
Global head of PwC Robert Moritz said the employees in question are undergoing disciplinary measures after their roles were exposed. He said he was disappointed and that his company is working to ensure it never happens again.
Professonal services firm PwC has featured at the Zondo commission into state capture, recently conceding that it had failed to raise the alarm when SAA books did not comply with the legal standards (for more, see Gupta sanctions put state capture specialists KPMG, PwC, McKinsey back in spotlight).
In SA, the Gupta Leaks investigation in 2017 exposed how consulting agency McKinsey was key in partnering with Gupta-appointed agencies Trillian and Regiments Capital on state-owned enterprise contracts. McKinsey has since returned the R1bn it was paid.
“Luanda Leaks was key for increased anti-corruption activism in Angola and brought new attention to accountants and others who are complicit in the systemic diversion of public funds for private gain,” says Karina Carvalho, the Angolan-born executive director of Transparency International in Portugal.
“But,” Carvalho added, “I also see the continuity of power structures that prevent the return of stolen assets to the Angolan people and protect gatekeepers who profit from money laundering and tax evasion. These enablers bear a share of responsibility for the poor living conditions, even starvation and death, faced by millions of people around the world,” Carvalho told the ICIJ.
As it stands, the Angolan government has taken severe action against Dos Santos. Though she is reportedly now based at her property in Dubai, the following has happened according to the ICIJ:
- In December 2019, a Luandan court froze millions of dollars of Dos Santos’s assets, including stakes in banks, a telecom firm and a brewery.
- An Angolan court ruled that Dos Santos, Dokolo and a former PwC manager had cost Angola $1bn.
- On 22 January, Angola’s Attorney General, Hélder Pitta Grós, charged the billionaire and her husband with embezzlement and money laundering.
- In February, a court in Lisbon ordered the seizure of dozens of Dos Santos’s bank accounts.
- In May, German police seized files from the headquarters of state-owned export bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, as part of a criminal probe.
- Portugal announced the nationalisation of her 71.7% stake in Efacec Power Solutions, a company that builds electricity infrastructure around the world. “The cabinet took this decision because Efacec is in a situation of impasse after the ‘Luanda Leaks’,” Economy Minister Pedro Siza Vieira announced on 2 July. Dos Santos bought her stake in Efacec in 2015 for about $225m.
- The European Banking Authority, responding to the European Parliament’s request for a probe into Luanda Leaks and any breaches of national or EU law, launched an inquiry.
- An Angolan court determined that a deal between Sodiam, Angola’s state-owned diamond company, and a Swiss luxury jewellery firm owned by Dokolo was fraudulent.
Read also: Angola & the world’s biggest bank heist – The Wall Street Journal
The year has ended on a grim note for Dos Santos and her family, as her husband died on 29 October during a diving accident in Dubai. He, too, was facing corruption charges for his African art collection – reportedly the largest in the world – and other charges relating to his business dealings with his wife.
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Though Dos Santos is in mourning, she has proclaimed her innocence and denies any wrongdoing. She often takes to Instagram to counter accusations and respond to media reports of her dwindling empire. According to The Guardian, she is in possession of three properties in London worth £24m, a super yacht worth £29.5m, a £50m Monaco property, Candando supermarkets in Angola, stakes in Swiss jewellery maker De Grisogono, a slice of oil and gas company Galp worth £12,9bn, and properties in Dubai and Lisbon.
Dos Santos registered and operated companies in dozens of territories around the world. Below is a list of where her companies were situated. The full list with industry details can be found here.
Belize – Allinmotion Holdings Limited
British Virgin Islands – Five companies in financial and consumer industries
Switzerland – Five enterprises
Italy – De Grisogono Italia Srl
United Kingdom – De Grisogono UK Limited
United States of America – De Grisogono USA Inc.
Luxembourg – Four companies
Malta – 13 companies
Netherlands – 28 enterprises
Madeira – Nine companies
Cyprus – Two companies
Angola – 93 companies
Portugal – 134 companies
Mauritius – Saguaro Management
Mozambique – Two enterprises
Mauritius – Two companies
Dubai – Africo Retail International DMCC
Cabo Verde – Six companies
Spain – 17 companies
South Africa – EFAS
São Tomé e PrÃncipe – Unitel STP S.A.R.L.
Hong Kong – Four companies
One company was registered in Morocco, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé e PrÃncipe, Ireland, Japan, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Thailand, Gibraltar, Liechenstein, Namibia, France, Czech Republic, Romania, Austria, Gambia and Singapore
Azores – Two enterprises
Brazil – Four companies
