From Luanda to Joburg: bankers, lawyers, accountants are enablers of state capture

Isabel dos Santos became Africa's richest woman in her 30s, not through sheer business acumen, although she is bright and qualified as an engineer. Instead, international journalists find that Dos Santos amassed her fortunes by taking advantage of her political links. But this daughter of a dictatorial former president couldn't manage this feat on relationships with powerful people alone. She used an army of bankers, lawyers and accountants to help her transfer wealth from the state into her own accounts and assets, spread across dozens of countries. In South Africa, the picture is the same. Former president Jacob Zuma and his coterie of corrupt associates could not have pulled off state capture, described as corruption on an industrial scale, without accountants at KPMG and other professionals. The Luanda Leaks serve as a reminder that the pattern of corruption in Africa unfortunately repeats itself. – Jackie Cameron.By Thulasizwe Sithole.South African former president Jacob Zuma and his family and friends are at the centre of a corruption scandal of epic proportions. South Africans call this corruption "state capture" because it entails individuals helping themselves to state funds through contracts and deals on the strength of political connections..Zuma, the Gupta brothers and associates did not invent state capture. They are following a well-worn path. The recent publication of explosive evidence against Isabel dos Santos, Africa's richest woman and daughter of former Angolan dictator José Eduardo dos Santos, highlights that Zuma and accomplices are copycats..Journalists uncovered widespread graft and self-enrichment by Dos Santos, just as journalists played a key role in exposing Zuma and his friends in South Africa..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.The Dos Santos affair is still unfolding. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) continues to pick at the seams to expose the rot. .A strong theme has emerged of professionals aiding and abetting politically connected individuals. As the ICIJ points out, the Dos Santos family amassed a vast fortune with the help of dozens of Western professionals, including bankers, lawyers, accountants and consultants, helped her amass a fortune overseas, while profiting from these deals. ."Few were willing to talk to reporters.".In South Africa, former president Jacob Zuma appears to have been careful enough to avoid being directly involved in deals; nevertheless, his son Duduzane and close friend Dudu Myeni, among others, have been incriminated..This is the same pattern in Angola.."In response to ICIJ's investigation and other reports, dos Santos has said that her fortune – estimated at $2bn – is self-made and that her business success should not be judged based on her family ties," says the ICIJ.."Because you're someone's child you're immediately guilty, and this is why there's a lot of prejudice, dos Santos said in a BBC Africa interview.."Luanda Leaks, however, showed that dos Santos was able to exploit her ties to her father, who ruled Angola from 1979 to 2017. On several occasions, the records indicate, her legal counsels drafted or reviewed the drafts of the presidential decrees that, legitimately, granted her companies contracts and state funds.."The signature of José Eduardo dos Santos is clear on those decrees. But, in the documents, the former president himself is nowhere to be found," it continues..Former president Zuma recently failed to turn up at a court appearance in connection with corruption charges going back more than two decades. His lawyer said he'd been out of the country, and the judge wants proof this is for medical treatment..Dos Santos's father wasted no time in leaving the country he helped to pillage, with the ICIJ journalists tracking him down to a mansion in Barcelona.

From Luanda to Joburg: bankers, lawyers, accountants are enablers of state capture

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